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DESIGN FOR LIVING ROOM IN RESIDENCE OF MR. H. J. ULLMAN, OAK PARK, ILL, 

Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect, Oak Park, Ill. 































































































k V 


Cxrx.''Ui>CL)^v<r^ ^cL^ 




AECHITECTURAl DRAWING 
AND LETTERING 


A IMANUAL OF PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION IN THE ART OF 
DRAFTING AND LETTERING FOR ARCHITECTURAL 
PURPOSES, INCLUDING THE PRINCIPLES OF 
SHADING AND RENDERING, AND 
PRACTICAL EXERCISES IN 
DESIGN 

PART I—ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 
By Frank A. Bourne, S. M., A. A. I. A. 

ARCHITECT. SPECIAL LIBRARIAN, DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS, PUBLIC LIBRARY, 

BOSTON, MASS. 

AND 

H. V. VON Holst, A. B., S. B. 

ARCHITECT, CHICAGO, ILL. 

PART II—ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 
By Frank Chouteau Brown 

ARCHITECT, BOSTON, MASS. AUTHOR OF “LETTERS AND LETTERING” 


ILLUSTRATED 



CHICAGO 

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CORRESPONDENCE 

1913 





P\f\7^^60 

)V3 


• COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY 
AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CORRESPONDENCE 

COPYRIGHTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 
ALL. RIGHTS RESERVED 



A ‘A I n ft 7 


CONTENTS 


V 


PART I 

ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 

Line drawing. jl^ 

Instruments and materials... 1 

Character of line. 7 

Shade lining. § 

Plan, sections, elevations. 10 

Importance of axes. H 

Limiting lines.;... I 5 

Oblique projections. 10 

Modeling an architectural drawing. IS 

Shadows at 45 degrees. 18 

Values. 19 

Rendering in wash. 23 

Materials (inks, brushes, etc.). 23 

Stretching paper. 24 

Inking the drawing v.:. 24 

Preparing the tint. 25 

Handling the brush. 2G 

Laying washes. 26 

Rendering elevations. 29 

Rendering sections and plans. 30 

Graded tints. 30 

Distinction between different planes. 32 

Water-color hints. 32, 

Tube and pan colors. 32 

Manipulation. 34 

Combination of colors. 34 

Primary, secondary, and complementary colors. 35 

Water-color rendering. 36 

Water-color sketching. 37 

Theory and practice of design. 37 

Methods of study. 37 

Putting ideas on paper. 37 



































2 


CONTENTS 


Theory and practice of design 

Use of tracing paper. 38 

Method followed at Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. 38 

Sketch plans and elevations. 39 

Perspective drawings. 39 

Exhibition drawings. 39 

Measured work. 43 

Hand-level. 43 

Elevation measurements. 44 

Arches. 44 

Projections. 45 

Inaccessible portions. 45 

Approximations. 45 

Rubbings. 45 

Composition in design. 47 

Scale. 48 

Ornament. 50 

Design of a dwelling (Number of rooms, hall, stairs, etc.) . . 51 

Various stages in building a house. 55 

Sketches. 55 

Working drawings. 56 

Full-size details. 57 

Representation of materials. 58 

Tracing and blue-printing. 59 

Letting the contract. 59 

Buildings for offices. 60 

Detailed design of a colonial residence (basement, first-floor, 
second-floor, attic, and roof; framing of front and side 
elevations; main cornice and dormer; kitchen, pantry, 
and china closet; plumbing; detail of window-frames; 
porch and front entrance; trim on first-floor; staircase 

and fireplace details). 61 

Uniform titles for drawings.102 

PART II 

ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 

Office lettering. .. . 3 

Letter forms. 4 

Renaissance letters. 6 

Diirer and Serlio. 9 
































CONTENTS 


3 


Office lettering PAGE 

Skeleton letters. 10 

Italic letters. 15 

Roman letters. 17 

Gothic letters. 16 

Single-line letters. 14 

Composition. 19 

Spacing. 25 

Minuscule or small letters. 26 

Architectural inscription lettering. 27 

Classic Roman letters. 29 

Italian Renaissance lettering. 36 

Uncial Gothic capitals. 39 

Inscription letter sections. 40 

English 17th century letters. 41 

Raised letters. 42 

German black letters. 43 

Italian black letters. 45 

Gothic lettering. 45 

English Gothic text. 46 






















RESIDENCE OF MRS. BACHRACH, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Wood, Donn & Deming, Architects, Washington, D. C. 

Walls of Stucco on Wire Lath. A Three-Quarter Engaged Ionic Column Used on Entrance Feature. For Plans, See Opposite Page. 


















INTRODUCTION 


|~^RA\\ INGS express our ideas more clearly and concisely and 
make them more readily understandable than any other 
medium. In the commercial or industrial world no work of conse¬ 
quence is carried on without drawings, whether it be the making 
of a special bolt or the building of a skyscraper. The understand¬ 
ing of a drawing has appeared to many who are not familiar with 
this branch of education to be very difficult. As a matter of fact 
this is a very erroneous idea for the subject requires less study than 
almost any other branch of useful knowledge. The ability to draw 
and understand drawings is always valuable to anyone, for without 
it he must carry out the development of his new ideas through 
someone else who has this knowledge. The superintendent, foreman, 
carpenter, and laborer, as well as the designer and draftsman, will 
find the information contained in this book of exceptional value. 

^ The contents of the volume have been so arranged that they 
will lead the reader easily and logically through the subject. The 
faculty of visualizing a machine through the medium of a drawing, 
which is so necessary to the good draftsman or designer, can 
gradually be developed through the imagination by anyone who will 
study conscientiously. To acquire this faculty should be a part 
of his development just as truly as an understanding of the meaning 
of each line of a drawing. The main object of this book is to give 
a logical presentation of the art of Architectural Drawing and this 
subject is covered very thoroughly, in all its details. There is, 
in addition, a chapter on Architectural Lettering which treats all 
the standard types of letters, giving full directions for securing 
correct outlines of each letter. 


INTRODUCTION 


^ It is with the idea of satisfying a real demand for a practical 
work on this subject which shall cover thoroughly the many 
problems which the present day draftsman and designer must meet 
and solve, that this volume has been published. It is especially 
adapted to the purposes of self-instruction and home study, as the 
material was originally written to meet the severest of all tests— 
that of correspondence instruction in the courses of the American 
School. The utmost care has been taken to make the treatment 
appeal to the technically trained expert as well as to the beginner 
and the self-taught practical man. 





Note the treatment of the roof and the windows. See Section 
“Rendering- Eilevations” Page 239. 

Reproduced by permission of Columbia University. 

























































































































FRAGMENTS FROM ROMAN TEMPLE AT CORI, ITALY. 

One of the most interesting- examples of architectural rendering in existence. 

Original drawing by Emanuel Brune. 

Reproduced by permission of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



















PART I. 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING. 


Instruments and Materials. The study of mechanical draw¬ 
ing has acquainted the student with the use of the ordinary drawing 
instruments and materials. Those required for architectural work 
are substantially the same. 

Pencils. Soft pencils are used; a draftsman cannot have ad¬ 
vanced far in ability before becoming familiar with the B B pencil, 
which will draw any line, from the finest to the coarsest, and give the 
greatest freedom for all Idnds of work, from sketching to full-size 
details. 

In architects* offices it is an almost invariable rule for the new- 
fledged student and young draftsman to use hard pencils—nails,** 
as they are called by more experienced men. A soft pencil gives a 
much more agreeable expression of ideas on paper than a hard pen¬ 
cil; the latter should be reserved for mechanical work. The drafts¬ 
man must not allow himself to become less accurate as he gains greater 
freedom, and the use of a soft pencil gives no excuse for a careless 
or slovenly drawing. H H, F and B B will be found the most useful 
grades. For laying out work, H H is often used. 

Erasers. The noted architect, H. H. Richardson, said that 
“an eraser is a draftsman’s best friend. ** For work on detail paper, 
a firm rubber is best, but a soft rubber is most serviceable for remov¬ 
ing ordinary pencil marks from all kinds of paper, including the thin 
tracing papers, without injury to the surface. It will be found that 
the eraser can be frequently used in studying outlines, and it is the 
custom for rapid draftsmen to let the pencil lines run where they 

will, trusting to the eraser to make the outline true. A large size 
ink eraser will be found easier on the hands than a small one. In 
making erasures a typewriter*s shield of metal with different sizes 

For some of the text and several of the illustrations in ARCHiTECTURAii Drawing 
the French work, lfl6ments et Th6orie de 1’Architecture, Vol. I., by Guadet, has been 
drawn on freely. The four volumes of this work by Guade'^ cannot be too highly recom* 
mended. Even those not familiar with the French language will find it an excellent ret 
erence work on account of the numerous useful Illustrations it contains. 




2 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


of openings, corresponding to the erasures to be made, called in 
draftsman’s parlance, the ^‘office goat,” is useful. Holes can be cut 
in cardboard or detail paper for this purpose. 

Set of Instruments. Good instruments are advisable, as it 
is hard enough to make good drawings, even with the best. Com¬ 
passes with pencil and pen points and extension legs; large and small 
dividers, bow-pen and bow-pencil, and two ruling pens, form the 
usual equipment of the architectural draftsman’s instrument case. 
Besides these a simple form of proportional dividers will be found 
very useful, especially in changing drawings from one scale to another, 
and also when it is desired to translate a rough sketch into a definite 
scale, preserving the proportions of the sketch. A small protractor 
will be sufficient for the rare occasions when an architect lays off 
angles to a given number of degrees. 

Beam compasses are useful, though many offices have only 
long straight edges and carpenters’ clamps for this purpose. Some¬ 
times a taut string will serve the purpose where perfect accuracy is 
not required, or two points on a straight edge may be taken, one 
point being held with one hand, while a curve is struck from another 
point by a pencil held in the other hand. 

Drawing Boards. It is necessary to have two drawing boards, 
one a Double Elephant” size, 28 X 42 inches, to accommodate 
paper of a size called “ Double Elephant, ” which is 27 X 40 inches, 
thus allowing J inch at the sides and an inch at the ends; the other 
board 23 X 32 inches, to accommodate the size of paper called 
“Imperial,” which is 22 X 30 inches. It will be found convenient 
also to have a small “Half Imperial ” board 23 X 16 inches in size. 
These boards should have a straight grained cleat at each end, or 
should be entirely surrounded with a framework of hard wood, having 
soft wood in the center. Cherry makes a good hard wood for the 
frames or ends, and pine or white wood for center. In many offices 
the boards are made entirely of pine or white wood, but it will be 
found preferable to have better made boards, and to take good care 
of them, keeping them square. If adjacent sides of the board make 
a true right-angle, the T-square can be used on these two sides, wffiich 
is an advantage in drawing long lines. When the boards have cleats 
at the ends only, however, it is always necessary to use the T-square 
from the left-hand end only. 



ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


3 


Triangles and T-Squares. There are T-squares to cor¬ 
respond to the size of the boards. They are usually made of straight, 
fine grained hard wood. The simplest form of fixed T-square will 
be found the most satisfactory for general office use. As even the 
best are apt to vary, it is a good idea to number every T-square in the 
office and note the number on commencing a drawing. If, however, 
fhe T-square is changed, and the new square does not line up with 
the old work, a thumb tack in the edge of the head next the drawing 
board may be used to bring the blade into line, as shown in Fig. 1, 
The drawing edge (upper edge) of a T-square should never be used 
as a straight edge for paper cutting. 

Two triangles are required, one 30 degrees to 60 degrees, and one 
of 45 degrees. Triangles are made of wood, hard rubber or celluloid. 

JTaterials for Wash=Drawings. For tinting, a nest of tinting 
saucers, brushes, a soft sponge, large blotters, a stick of India ink, 
a slate slab for grinding it, a 
half cake of carmine and a 
half tube of Prussian blue will 
make a good beginning. 

Paper. Paper comes in 
certain conventional sizes. 

“ Whatman’s paper ” is most 
easily obtained in two sizes, 
the “Imperial,” 22X30inches, 
and “ Double Elephant,” 27 X 40 inches, and is a useful paper for 
all-around architectural work, being good for pencilling, inking in, 
and wash drawings; colors can be laid on it even after erasures 
have been made. The Whatman “ hot-pressed ” paper has a smooth 
surface and is generally used for fine pencil or ink drawings. The 
Whatman “ cold-pressed ” paper has a rough surface and good texture, 
and is useful for all-around work. 

Tinted Papers. Gray or other colored papers are frequently 
employed, pencil or pen and ink being used for the lines and shadows, 
and chalk or Chinese white for the high lights. Pastels and water 
colors are used on special colored papers; “scratch papers” are those 
on which white is obtained by scratching through the colored surface . 
of the paper. Some of these papers, including buff or manila detail 
paper, have already been fully described under the subject of mechan- 










AKCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


leal drawing. The process of stretching paper is also there 
described. 

Tracing Paper. In architectural work a great deal of tracing 
paper is used. A cheap manila tracing paper is convenient for rough 
preliminary studies not intended to be preserved. ^^Alba/’ a white 
tough tracing paper, and “Economy,’’ a cheaper form, are very good 
for pencil sketching and also for careful pencil drawings. Rowney’s 
English tracing paper is very transparent, is good for accurate pen¬ 
cilling, and takes color, but becomes brittle with age; it is, however, 
the best paper for careful studies of architectural work. Bond paper 
which comes in sheets 20 X 28 inches^ is very useful for working 
drawings of small frame houses, as the drawing can be inked-ln and 
blue prints taken directly from this paper without the necessity of 
tracing. 

Some offices make many of their details in black pencil on this 
paper and where work on different houses is similar, let blue prints 
of these details serve for each new building. 

Tracing Cloth. Tracing cloth is used for Important work 
where the tracing will be roughly used or where changes are likely 
to be made in the drawing. In drawing on tracing cloth, there are 
three ways of making the ink flow well: (1) The most common is 
to rub powdered chalk over the surface, dusting off the superfluous 
chalk; (2) Benzine applied with a towel will clean the cloth; (3) 
Oxgall, a preparation obtainable at any artists’ materials store, may 
be mixed with the ink. Sometimes pencil drawings are made directly 
on the cloth, and after inking-in benzine is used to remove all pencil 
marks. As a rule, the rough side of the tracing cloth is used, but 
some draftsmen prefer to ink-in on the smooth side, thinking they 
can make a cleaner line, and then turn the cloth over to color the 
drawing on the rough side with water colors or crayons. 

Scales. Scales for architectural work are like those used for 
mechanical drawing, one-quarter inch to the foot for working draw¬ 
ings, and three-quarter inch to the foot for details, being the cus¬ 
tomary scales used in American offices, though some offices use one- 
eighth inch to the foot, with one-half inch to the foot for details—^the 
custom usually followed in England. It is customary to make fulh 
size details of mouldings and of special constructive parts. Three- 
sixteenths inch to the foot is sometimes useful as a scale drawing, or 


I 



An example of conventional shadows and rendering. 

Reirodticed by permission of Massachusetts Institute o/ Tecknoloey. 




















ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


5 


in laying out stairs in section, as will be described later. This scale 
is also frequently used for exhibition drawings. One and one-half 
inch to the foot, one inch to the foot, and three inches to the foot, are 
also used. For the scale of three inches to the foot, the ordinary 
quarter-inch scale may be read as inches instead of feet, as one- 
quarter inch is one-twelfth of three inches. The three-quarter inch 
scale is the favorite among carpenters for the reason that the ordinary 
two-foot rule can be used on the drawings; as there are twelve-six¬ 
teenths of an inch in every three-quarters of an inch, each sixteenth 
of an inch on the rule represents one inch actual measurement. The 
inch scale is very popular for drawing mantels, interior finish, etc., 
where the total dimensions can be read directly from the two-foot 
rule, each inch being equal to the foot full size. 

The accompanying illustration of an architect’s scale. Fig. 2, 
shows the usual divisions on a scale for ordinary architectural work. 


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A six-inch scale of this size is very convenient for ordinary measure¬ 
ments and a similar one eighteen inches or two feet long is useful for 
laying out larger work. This scale gives the full-size measurements 
in inches divided into sixteenths with the scales of sixteenths reading 
in the reverse order from zero up, so that the number can be read 
directly from a sixteenth scale or doubled for a thirty-second inch 
scale. The common quarter-inch and eighth-inch scales are given, as 
well as the half-inch and one-inch scales. The useful three-quarter 
inch scale is given with the three-sixteenths scale in reverse order. 

The accompanying sketch. Fig. 3, shows how a scale may be 
used in laying out staircases in nlan and section much more rapidly 































































6 


ARCHITECTUKAL DRAWING 


than is usual in architects’ offices. The sketch shows the plan and 
section of a staircase at a scale of one-quarter of an inch to the foot, 
the staircase to be three feet six inches wide. The section shows 
that the floors are nine feet six inches between finished surfaces. 
As it is desirable to economize space, the stairs are to be laid out with 
about seven and one-half inches rise and eleven inches tread. Divid¬ 
ing nine feet six inches by seven and one-half, we find that fifteen 



risers will give us slightly over seven and one-half inches. To lay 
out fourteen treads—which locate the fifteen risers including the first 
and last—instead of spacing over fourteen treads, start from the first 
riser, lay off parallel to run of stairs in plan eleven feet on the quar¬ 
ter-inch scale; then draw a line perpendicular to the run of the stairs. 
Tip the scale until the zero coincides with the first tread and twelve 















































































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


7 


coincides with the line just drawn. Each division of the quarter 
scale marked off as a scale of proportional parts will give us a series 
of points through which we can draw parallel lines which will locate 
the risers eleven Inches apart. If it is found that the stairs do not 
arrive at the point desired, the scale can be tipped more or less and 
each tread decreased or Increased. The same method can be fol¬ 
lowed for laying out the stairs in elevation. 

LINE DRAWING. 

Character of Line. The thickness of the line in drawing 
should be the same throughout its length, except occasionally in 
perspective rendering. The line may vary in different parts of the 
same drawing, and in different drawings, according to how much or 
how little detail is to be shown, but in every case the lines should be 
firm and clear. Those parts of an elevation which are nearest to the 
spectator should be drawn in heavier lines than the more distant parts. 
Thick lines generally tend to simplify the design. The outline of 
the curved mouldings, excepting those circular in section, should be 
drawn freehand, as they can be given more character in that way 
than if made with the compass. 

The compass should be used in such a way that the point will 
not make large holes in the paper. The arms of the compass should 
be bent so that the pencil point and needle point will be perpendicular 
to the paper. Pencil lines should be made without a heavy pressure 
so as not to dent the paper. The ruling pen should be held like the 
pencil and used very lightly, for if too much weight is put upon the 
pen, the paper will be cut, and if the pen is pressed too hard against 
the T-square the blades of the pen will be closed and the lines become 
weaker. It is also necessary that the ink should always flow freely 
from the drawing pen. It should be renewed frequently and the pen 
should be cleaned each time it is refilled. If the ink refuses to flow, 
it frequently can be started by touching the end of the pen to the 
moistened finger, capillary attraction immediately starting the ink 

to flow. 

Ordinary writing ink should not be used with the drawing pen. 
After the drawing is inked in, the pencil lines can be erased. The 
student will eventually become accustomed to making the important 
lines with the pencil and putting in many of the lines of the drawing 


8 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


1 


hiiiMAii'n 

- 

_ 

^ 7 

A 

- -■ ' • "Y 

C 

/ 


immediately in ink, between limiting lines in pencil. But the drafts¬ 
man should be very sure of himself and his drawing before using 
this method. 

Shade lining, or indicating 
shadows by making the lower 
and right-hand edges of pro¬ 
jecting planes in elevation 
heavier, see Fig. 4, is used in 
architectural drawing, espe¬ 
cially in illustrations for publi¬ 
cation. In office work, when 
it is desired to show the shad¬ 
ows, the latter are generally 
laid in washes. The brilliancy 
of the architectural drawing 
shown in many recent exam¬ 
ples, especially from New York 
offices, is much increased by 
strengthening the outline of 
projecting members and orna¬ 
mental parts, by accenting cer¬ 
tain points, and by carrying through only certain important lines 
of mouldings, and drawing other lines only a short distance. Fin¬ 
ished lines coming down on to projecting surfaces may be stopped 
short just before reaching the surface, giving effect of high light on 
those surfaces, as shown in Fig. 4; and lines at outer angles may 
be carried slightly across each other, giving a firm intersection, in¬ 
stead of stopping just at 
the junction. For plans 
the same holds good, as is 
shown in Fig. 5. 

In an elevation, the 
planes toward the front 
may be drawn with dark 
lines and those farther back with lighter lines. Joint lines in masonry 
and the lighter lines of carving should be drawn in ink which has been 
diluted with water. The design for the National Maine Monument, 
page 9, shows a good method of lining an architectural drawing. 


Fig. 4. Shade Lines. 


/BE/Tra2JT3Ma<LlN<i 

(■JNAPPY'PEAWINQ/ 





1-^ 


t= 

I 

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Fig. 5. Junctions of Lines. 























































First Prize Design. National Maine Monument. 

H. Van Buren Magonigle, Architect. 










































































































































































































































































































































































































































10 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


Sometimes lines of different colors, as red to indicate brick, 
blue for stone, yellow for wood, etc., are used on working drawings 
to take the place of tinting. 

DEFINITIONS. 

Architectural drawing is geometric. If the student is making 
the drawing of a model, he should try to think how the author of the 
model laid it out, and how he, the student, would proceed if he had 
the opportunity to lay it out. He will find that the model is repre¬ 
sented on paper by the different projections such as the plans, sections 
and elevations. These are laid out to a certain scale; that is to say, 
one-fourth inch to the foot, which means that one-fourth inch in the 
drawing represents one foot in the model; or one-eighth inch to the 
foot, etc. 

Definition of Plan. A plan of a building is a section cut 
by a horizontal plane through the walls, supports, etc., at such a 
height so as to show the greatest number of peculiarities in construc¬ 
tion, walls, doors, windows, supports, columns and pilasters, fire¬ 
places, etc. It is possible to consider a plan as a horizontal impres¬ 
sion that could be taken of the building in course of construction 
when it had arrived at a certain level in the height of a story. On 
the plan the construction is shown invariably by horizontal sections, 
but it is possible to project up all that is below and also to show w^hat 
is above. In the first case the plan will show the architectural por-, 
tions which project beyond the base of the walls or supports such as 
the base, steps, approaches, etc. In the other case it will show 
vaultings, ceilings, entablatures, cornices, etc. Sometimes it is desira¬ 
ble to show both—half of each—provided the parts shown are suffi¬ 
ciently interesting or necessary for explaining the entire scheme. 

Definition of Section. The section is a plane cut through 
a building vertically, that Is to say, it is the same thing perpendicularly 
that the plan is horizontally. This plane should be taken along the 
line of some main axis. 

A single section rarely is sufficient to give all the interior of the 
building. It is necessary to have, as a rule, at least two, one a longi¬ 
tudinal section, perpendicular as a rule to the facade, and the other 
a transverse section, usually parallel to the facade. Very often a 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


11 


small section of the front alone is made. This should preferably be 
called a profile of the front. 

Definition of Elevations. The elevations of a building are 
the projections of the building on vertical planes parallel to the side 
of the building of which an elevation is desired. Except in the case 
of complete uniformity, it is necessary to have several elevations in 
order to show the complete exterior of a building, such as the principal 
facade, side elevations, and rear elevation. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF AXES IN ARCHITECTURAL 

DRAWING. 

The axis is the key of a design or of any composition. An axis 
in geometry is a line which separates into two equal parts any sym¬ 
metrical plane figure, or the pole of a surface of revolution or of a 
regular solid, such as a rectangular prism with a regular base. In 
architecture the idea of the axis is greater than this. It is in reality 
a vertical plane through the whole building separating the building 
into two parts symmetricafiy, or in such a way that they balance one 
another. 

Although the graphical representation is confined to a straight 
line, do not forget that it is not simply a line. Take for example a 
church; in drawing the plan, the axis of this plan will be a straight 
line separating it into two parts, but this line itself will be only the 
projection of the central vertical plane which is the axis of the whole 
building; and the keystones of the vault, the lights which drop from 
them, the center of the rose window, etc., are in the axis of the church. 
Notice besides this that the straight line which is the axis of the 
plan, and the line which is the axis of the front and rear facade, 
the line which is the axis of the transverse section—these lines are 
only the traces, all belonging to some axis plane, as it may be called, 
and this plane is the principal axis. 

But there are other minor axes. Parallel to the main axis are 
the axes of the side arms and between these are the axes of the columns. 
Running transversely are the axes of the transept, those of each bay, 
the radiating axes of the chapels, etc. 

In laying out the drawings of a church, for example, first place 
all of these different axes with the utmost accuracy. This method 
of laying out the drawings of a building by starting with the axes may 


12 


ARCHITECTUKAL DRAWING 


be best explained by examples. Let us commence by the study of 
a plan, that of a vestibule, in a public building; e.g., the Hotel des 
Monnaies at Paris, Fig. 6. 

After halving drawn the axis 1, which is the principal axis of the 
building, it will be noticed that there are five bays of the central 
pavilion which are spaced equally. Of these draw first the extreme 
axes, 2 2; by dividing the space between axes 1 and 2 into equal parts, 
the intermediate axes 3 3, will be found. In this way the chances of 
error would be decreased, for if the axes were placed in the order 
1,3, 2, the possible error would be doubled. Now taking the portion 
to the right, draw first the extreme axis 4, then 5, and divide the space 
4 5 into equal parts, which will give the axis 6. 


Z 



Fig. 6. Plan of Vestibule of Hotel des Monnaies. 


Now consider the axes of the rows of columns 7 7. These are 
to be arranged in relation to the axes 3 3; finally the axes 8 8 are 
located in relation to the extreme axes 7 7, being checked in relation 
to the axes 2 2. ^ 

In the longitudinal direction the same process will be gone 
through, placing the first axis 1, then the extremes 2 2; by division 
3 3 will be obtained, and dividing the spaces between the axes 1, 2, 
and 3, into half, the axes 5 and 6 of the columns are obtained. The 
secondary axes will be placed in the same way. Finally it will be 
found advisable to check up the different steps by verifying the dis¬ 
tances of the secondary symmetrical axes from the central main axis. 




















RENDERING OF ROMAN IONIC CAPITA^. 

Showing’ conventional shadows and reflected lights and shadows. 

Refrnduced by permission of Columbia Universitv. 




















ARCHITECTURAL DRA W1JN ^ 


i6 


In carefully studying the plan, and the different methods of 
di awing it, the student will become convinced that the methods of 
spacing the axes are of great importance, and that in this way he will 
arrive at exactness and will avoid many mistakes. 

The student must understand that it is much more difficult to 
draw a good plan than is popularly supposed; more difficult, perhaps, 
than anything else, from the mere fact that everything builds up 
from the plan. In the plan especially, extreme exactness is necessary 




Fig. 7. Hotel des Monnaie.s, Transverse Section of Vestibule. 

Section on YY. 


Fig. 8. Hotel des Monnaies, Longitudinal Section of Vestibule. 

Section on ZZ. 

and the student will do well, in order to become familiar with archi¬ 
tectural drawing, to practice the drawing of plans constantly. 

Now let us consider the sections, taking the same example that 
we have just considered. The student will easily see that the archi¬ 
tect cannot study his composition thoroughly without the aid of 
numerous sections. Tw^o sections, however,.are especially necessary, 
tliose following the principal transverse and longitudinal axes of 












































































































































































































































































































u 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


symmetry. If the student wishes to draw both of them, lie should 
decide first which one of the two controls the other. See Figs. 7 
and 8. He will see that in this case it is the transverse section, par¬ 
allel to the front elevation. The other, the longitudinal section, is 
chiefly the projection of elements of the other section. Therefore, 
in this case the drawing should be commenced by laying out the 
transverse section. 

First, place the axes just as has been done in the plan, 1, 2 2, 3 3, 
7 7, 8 8. In regard to the profiles or the parts in section, the first 
thing necessary is to locate the heights of the essential parts, taking 
for the first level the main floor A A, next drawing the upper line of 
the capitals of the columns B B, then the centers of the vaults C D. 

Starting with these principal lines, draw in the details, as for 
example, the heights of the bases in relation to the floor A A, The 
capitals and heights of the architraves will be located in relation to 
the line B B. It is evident that if all the measurements were taken 
from the level of the main floor A A, the least inexactness would affect 
the capitals, while if the total height of the column A B is once deter¬ 
mined, no mistake can be made in the height of the base and that of 
the capital, and even admitting a slight inexactness, it will be inap¬ 
preciable on the total height of the shaft of the column. 

In all which has preceded, the drawing has been laid out along 
the lines of the axes. But besides these are some conventional methods 
by which the drawing of profiles in section or in elevation can be 
facilitated. Let us take for example a fragment of the Doric order—■ 
one from the Parthenon, Fig. 9. To reproduce this drawing one should 
measure the different projections by referring them to one single 
vertical line. In this case the axis of the column would not furnish 
a convenient axis for measurement, as with exception of the column, 
it determines nothing. It is best to proceed just as in measuring an 
existing order, that is, by dropping a plumb line from the overhanging 
cornice and measuring the distance from that plumb line to the 
various members. But this vertical line from the outer member of 
the cornice will be only useful for laying out the profile and in locating 
the axis of the column; axes should be drawn in every other possible 
case. For instance, place the column on the axis A; the triglyphs, 
on B; the metopes, on C; the head of the lion, on D, etc. To obtain 
the heights draw the principal divisions in first; the total height of 


AKCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


15 


the capital, the total height of the architrave, the complete frieze, 
the complete cornice; then draw in each detail in height within these 
first divisions. 

The channels of the triglyphs, the guttae, etc., are all drawn in 
on their own axes. As for the channels of the column, these can only 
be drawn by projecting them. Do not copy them from the drawing, 
but draw out a plan, dividing the circumference into twenty parts 
or whatever number the design calls for, and project these divisions 
up to the elevation. 

Study the model care¬ 
fully before copying it; thus, 
in this example a close ex¬ 
amination will show that 
the architrave is slightly 
sloping while the frieze is 
not. If the student has the 
opportunity to see mould¬ 
ings similar to those which 
he is drawing, he should 
study them carefully. It 
cannot be too often re¬ 
peated that architectural 
drawdng should not confine 
itself to exercise for the 
hand; there should be the 
opportunity for real study 
of whatever is drawn. 

Limiting Lines. In 
geometry, we have learned 
what the abscissa and the ordinate are; i.e., the elements of reference by 
which a point is referred to a system of fixed rectilinear co-ordinate 
axes. For every part of a design of which the elements are not geomet¬ 
rical lines, such as a right line or circle, the method of abscissa and 
ordinate is used, as in laying out profiles of mouldings or curved orna¬ 
ments such as eggs in the egg and dart motive. Take for example a 
baluster. Fig. 10; it is evident that it should be drawn in relation to its 
axis. The student will mark the general divisions, A B the die, B C the 
base, C D the shaft, D E the capital, after which the secondary lines 



Fig. 9. Capital and Entablature from the 
Parthenon. 









































































16 


AKCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


of the mouldings should be drawn in. Between C and D, however, 
the profile of the shaft may vary very much and the student will not 
be able to copy it except by laying off horizontal divisions. For that 
purpose, draw the limiting lines of its greatest width m m, mark its 
point of application M, and repeat this operation on the drawing. In 
the same manner lay off the line n n, and the point N, which gives 

the smallest diameter of the shaft, and dc 
not mark these points by a single poinl 
with the pencil, but be careful to draw the 
limiting (in this case vertical) lines at every 
point, and do not erase them until after you 
have inked in the drawing. These lines will 
be a safe guide and will enable one to make 
an exact and clean drawing. 

As another example take the fragment of 
the cornice with different ornaments, taken 
from the Temple of Concord, at Rome, Fig. 
11. The construction lines marked on the 
drawing, and which should be kept in 
pencil until the drawing is completed, show 
especially well the method previously ex¬ 
plained. 

Finally, to produce an architectural 
drawing with precision demands primarily 
a rational method and methodical habits. 
The design gains by its facility, but the 
method can only be a general one In its 
application, an intelligent draftsman will 
recognize each time what should be the 
logical sequence in carrying out the drawing. 
And still, all of this will be only the mechanism of the design; it is 
necessary to put into it taste and sentiment. For all of this there is 
only one precept—it is by practice that one becomes a good workman. 

Oblique Projections. It happens often that in an elevation 
or section architectural motives are represented obliquely in relation 
to the principal plane of projection. Thus in a circular building a 
series of similar windows are in elevation at different angles, conse¬ 
quently the widths differ, but the heights do not. 



Fig. 10. Baluster. 






































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


17 


It is necessary to become familiar with these conditions of draw- 
ing which occur frequently. It is here above all that geometry will 

be very useful, for that study includes the planes of projection and 
planes of development. 

hile there is some little difficulty, there is also much profit to 
be gained in projecting an architectural motive at an angle. In order 
to project a motive at an angle correctly, one must understand the 
motive thoroughly. An architectural arrangement drawn out in 
direct elevation only, will not tell the whole story, but if drawn in 

oblique projection a thorough understanding of the arrangement 
is gained. 



i l: ! il 

Fig 11. Entablature from the Temple of Concord, Rome. 

It is recommended, therefore, as a very useful exercise to draw 
out in oblique projections, designs that are made in direct elevation; 
it is a good exercise in design, but above all it is an excellent prepara¬ 
tion for architecture, compelling the designer to analyze his model 
and to see it as a whole; to understand its projections and to compre¬ 
hend the position of the different details. The designer realizes that 
he is working on the real building rather than in simple imagination, 
and so will soon see of how much advantage these exercises will 
be to him. 

Consider, for example, two windows, one in direct elevation and 
the other projected at an angle. It is evident that the direct eleva- 




































































































18 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


tion permits the study of proportions and it is evident also that the 
oblique projection shows more than the direct elevation of the 
different parts of the window. In the same manner draw out the de^ 
velopment of such parts of buildings as vaultings, circular walls, etc. 

All this can be summed up thus: Study architectural drawing 
as an architect. Become accustomed to see in the drawing the 
object represented. It is very necessary that the drawing should 
be nothing more for the designer than a sort of language, and that 
he should see in reality the thing itself, just as a composer of music, 
as he puts down on paper the notes of his score, can hear them as 
though they were being played; just as everyone in reading a book of 
printed characters never notices the printed letters but feels the emo¬ 
tions that are meant to be conveyed as though the words were spoken. 

Modeling an Architectural Drawing. A design is only 
complete when in addition to the outlines, it is modeled, that is to 
say when the form is expressed. The most common process for 
modeling an architectural design is by wash drawing, but the methods 
of modeling are the same whether done by wash drawing or by render¬ 
ing with the pen, the pencil, or other processes. It is not possible 
to say that modeling has absolute rules, or that all methods are good 
even if the desired effect is obtained; i.e., if the reliefs and the forms 
are represented in their true relations to one another. There are, 
however, certain general principles that can be used as a guide in 
modeling a drawing. 

Shadows at 45 Degrees. It is the custom to assume that 
the light rays fall in a direction, the horizontal and vertical projec¬ 
tions of which make an angle of 45 degrees with the line of the ground. 
The luminous ray itself does not make, in reality, an angle of 45 
degrees with the planes of projection. Its direction is that of the 
diagonal of a cube whose faces are respectively parallel and perpen¬ 
dicular to the planes of projection. 

This method has two advantages; the laying out is easier, which 
it is well to consider, for the drawing of shadows is often a long and 
complicated process, and in this case the depth of the shadows is 
equal to the projections. Consequently, the size of the shadows 
permits anyone to understand, without further drawings, the projec¬ 
tion of one architectural body in relation to another, and the relative 
positions in space of the different surfaces in one body. 



FORVM, 

D' W'VSl'E 






--faVuMg fti 


DETAIL FROM TEMPLE OF MARS VENGEUR. 

An example of classic lettering’, conventional shadows and rendering: 

Reproduced by permission of Massachusetts Institute of Technology* 














































































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ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


19 


The drawing of shadows is often difficult; it is one of the essential 


parts of descriptive geometry that will also be found in special trea¬ 
tises. As for indicating shadows which cannot be laid out accur- 
ately, such as shadows of decorative parts, it is a matter of 
judgment to determine the amount of projection—a knowledge 
gained by experience. 

Values. xAfter having drawn the shadows, lay over the shadow 
part a uniform tint. Now the drawing will be seen to be divided 
into lights and shadows. 

As a first principle, it is necessary always to make a distinction 


between light and shade; shadows will always be modeled, lights will 
also always be modeled; but it is necessary to be able to distinguish 
clearly wTich is light and which is shade in the same drawing, at 
least where there are large spaces between different planes. The 
parts having the darkest tint in the light should remain lighter than 
the lightest reflected lights of the parts in shadow. Besides this, 
geometrical design, not being able to make use of the illusions of 
perspective to show distances and projections, has to make use of 
expressive modeling, since it is the values of the tints alone which will 
indicate the relative distances and projections. 

Therefore, in order to bring forward or to set back one plane 
with relation to another, the only resource will be to tint them differ¬ 
ently. Notice what happens in this respect in nature; for instance, 
an object placed near the eye is modeled very clearly and one at some 
distance is modeled much less, and one at a great distance or on the 
horizon, is only a mass without details. So, the nearer the object is, 
the more it is modeled and the greater are the differences between 
the shadows and the lights; on the contrary, the further away it is 
the more the lights and shadows tend to mingle. In the foreground 
there will be strong shadows and high lights, in the distance dull 
shadows and softened lights; between these an intermediate propor¬ 
tion of shadows and lights. Therefore, in facade, the planes far¬ 
thest away from the eye will have the least modeling, while the 
nearer the plane is to the eye, the more is the modeling accented. 

As stated above, in nature every light and every shade is modeled 
and graded; the shadows are more noticeably graded than the lights. 
The reason for this gradation of shadows is the indirect lighting 


20 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


thrown back on the shaded objects by neighboring lighted objects, 
and this is called reflected light. 

Take for example a cylindrical body like the shaft of a column. 
It is easy to distinguish on this cylinder cast shadows and shades. 
The cast shadows are those which result from the interception by 
another solid, of luminous rays which without it would have lighted 
the cylinder. Shades result from the absence of light on the part of 
the cylinder which by its position cannot receive light rays. Naturally 
shadows are less affected by reflected light than shades. The reflec¬ 
tion of light or the throwing back of light which creates the reflected 
light comes from lighted bodies, which in theory may be considered 
as secondary sources of rays of light of which the resultant will be 
in the direction opposite to the light. That is, since the lighting is in a 
direction of 45 degrees from above down, and conventionally from 
left to right, the direction of the reflected light is in the direction 
of a diagonal from the lower right front corner to the upper rear 
left corner. 

This conventional theory is to be followed as the rule for model¬ 
ing. Commence with the lights, or where the gradations are more 
easily comprehended. Take a solid of white stone, for example, a 
sphere. It is easy to comprehend that the strongest lighting will be 
at the point of intersection of the surface of the sphere with the 
luminous ray which prolonged will pass through the center. Then, 
around this pole of light, the angle of the luminous ray with the 
surface will be diminishing constantly following parallel zones, having 
the luminous point for the pole, until it becomes tangent to the sphere 
following a great circle whose luminous point is also the pole and 
which will be the line separating the shade from the light. In other 
words, the light will diminish from the pole to this equator. 

In the shadow it will be just the opposite; the greatest reflection 
will be at the other extreme of the ray prolonged to pass through the 
luminous point and the center of the sphere, the shadow will increase 
in intensity from the pole of reflected light to the separating circle 
of shade and light. 

^ut if any body casts a shadow on the lighted part of the sphere, 
its shadow will be much less affected by reflected light and conse¬ 
quently will be more intense than the shade itself. 

From this follow two rules for modeling: (1) A shadow cannot 


AKCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


21 


be cast on a body unless this body is in the light and some other body 
is casting the shadow; (2) The value of the intensity, i.e., the degree 
of darkness, of the cast shadow at any point is in direct ratio to the 
strength of light on that point. 

The application of these rules can be illustrated on a geometric 
body, for example, the capital of a Doric column and its architrave, 



Cavetto 


Talon 





caart shadcxa 
r ^ 



shadow 


Fig. 12. Shadows on Capital of Doric Column. 


Fig. 12. The shadows should be drawn out and a light shadow tint 
laid over them. Now let us consider where the most intense shadows 
will be. Evidently at A, where the shadow is determined by a ray 
normal to the cylindrical surface of a column, and the parts A' A', 
of the cast shadows which meet the surface of revolution following 
its meridian of light. The clearest reflected shadows cannot be 
seen in the drawing as they will be found at the back of the projection 
on the meridian opposite the point A. But among the parts seen 
on the drawing the most reflected light will be at the point B B, doubly 
lighted by its position on plan and by the form of the moulding. 




















































































22 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


Between these extremes the parts C C will have intermediate values, 
whether shades themselves or cast shadows. Also, observe that the 
values of the light at contour C' are symmetrical with the values of 
the light of contour C. There will be, therefore, a symmetry of 
modeling, in relation to an axis of the most intense lighting on the 
column of the luminous part and of the intensity of the shadows; 
this axis will be on meridian A. As for the mouldings which are 
straight in plan like D D, their general value will be analogous to 
the intermediate value C C. 

Passing to the lights, we see that the point most lighted will be 
the point a, and finally the generatrix a' a'; and the light will become 
more and more gray up to the tangent M M. But along the astragal 
the light will extend in almost uniform intensity, for it will strike 
iuore normally than on the cylinder. As for the straight parts, the 
abacus, the architrave and fillets, they will receive less light than the 
cylinder at a' a' and approximately the same as at C C; the sloping 
part of the abacus will naturally have a more intense light. Other¬ 
wise each one of the plain surfaces, in shadow or light, will be graded 
from the upper part down, because the nearer the surface is to the 
ground, the more reflected light it receives. For each detail use the 
same reasoning. Thus, for the cavetto, there is a cast shadow in 
the lower part, but the portion above the tangent is in shade. The 
shadow is modelled by continuous grading from darkest at the lower 
part to the lightest in the upper part; the talon will have cast shadows 
at O and P, the portions at N being in shade, hence O and P are the 
darkest parts while N is the lightest. 

Another element comes into the modeling; ^.c., the openings. 
An opening is always darker than the simple shadows, for there is 
almost no reflection that comes in the opening.to lighten the shadow. 
Such are the door and window openings of a facade. The parts in 
shadow, which are less accessible to the reflections, will be darker 
than the other parts. For instance, the openings between the dentils, 
the spaces between the consoles, etc., will be darker than the face 
of the dentils or consoles and may be as dark as the general shade 
of the openings. The modeling should be such that the parts which 
are by themselves in reality, will appear so on the drawing. It is 
not necessary to exaggerate; the modeling should remain simple. 

Lacking good models, it is always easy to get good photographs 




CORINTHIAN CAPITA!^ AND BASE. 

Showing^ conventional shadows and rendering. 
Original drawing by Emanuel Brune. 

Reproduced by permission of Massachusetts Institute of Technology^ 


















ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


23 


of good wash drawings; for example, a large number of “Envois de 
Rome ”, or drawings made by students in Rome, have been photo¬ 
graphed and published. These are models which cannot mislead one. 

RENDERING IN WASH. 

All studies and completed exhibition drawings in the archi¬ 
tectural schools are tinted in India ink or water-color. This is 
done to show the shadows, and to indicate the relative position of 
the different planes, and is the method of representation in com¬ 
mon use in architects’ offices, especially in the presentation of com¬ 
petition drawings. 

MATERIALS. 

Chinese, Japanese or India inks are used for rendering, on 
account of their clear quality and rich neutral tone. The ink 
comes in sticks. Fig. 13, and it is ground in a slate slab provided 
with a piece of glass for a cover. See Fig. 14. 


Fig. l.S. India Ink. 

There are various kinds of bruslies. Camel’s hair brushes are 
the cheapest and are useful for rough work. Sable brushes. Fig. 
15, are two to three times as expensive as the camel’s hair ones on 


Fig. 14. Ink Slab. 

account of the material, but are also very much better. The sable 
brushes have a spring to them not to be found in the camel’s 
hair brush, and they come to a finer, firmer point. Chinese and 










24 


AKCHITECTUKAL DKAWTNG 


Japanese brushes are used a good deal of late, as they are cheaper 
than the sable brushes and have some spring to them. A stip¬ 
pling brush is one with a square end, used mostly in china paint¬ 
ing. A bristle brush is a stiff brush used in oil painting ; on 
account of its stiffness it is used for taking out hard edges, as 
described later on. Fig. 16 shows a nest of porcelain cabinet 
saucers. 



Fig. 15. Sable Brush. 


Besides these materials the student should provide himself 
with a large and a small soft sponge, and large blotters, which will 
sop up water readily. Whatman’s cold pressed ” paper is the 
best paper to use for rendering in India ink. 

HETHOD OF PROCEDURE. 

Stretching Paper. All drawings on which washes are to be 
laid should be stretched, as described in the Alechanical Drawing, 



Fig, 16. Nest of Saucers. 

Inking the Drawing. The lines should be drawn with 
ground India ink, the ink being as black as possible without being 
too thick to flow. Ornament should be inked in with lighter line^ 
than the vertical and horizontal lines. This accents the struc- 
tuial lines. Very often the outline of the ornament is drawn 
in a heavier line than the remainder. The width of the line 















































































































































































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


25 


should vary with the scale of the drawing, the larger and bolder 
the drawing the wider the line. 

India ink evaporates very rapidly. It should be kept covered 
and changed several times a da,y, especially in summer. After 
the drawing is inked it should he washed to remove the surplus 
ink, otherwise when the tint is applied the ink will spread. This 
is best done by placing it under a faucet and rubbing it very 
lightly with a soft sponge. If the inking has been properly done 
the lines will now have the appearance of a firm pencil line of a 
soft neutral color forming a harmonious background for the tint. 
The shadows should then be cast and drawn in with a hard pencil 
in faint lines. 

Preparing the Tint. For large washes India ink should be 
freshly ground in a clean saucer each time it is required. In no 
case use the prepared India ink which comes in bottles, as this is 
full of sediment which settles out in streaks on the drawing. 
Always use the stick ink. 

Rub the ink in the saucer until it is very black; then let it 
stand, keeping the saucer covered. This allows the sediment, 
which is so fatal to a clear wash, to settle. After it has set¬ 
tled take the ink from the top with a brush without disturbing 
the bottom. Put this ink into another saucer and dilute it 
with the necessary amount of water. Never use the ink in the 
saucer in which it was originally ground. In dipping the brush 
into the second saucer it is well to take this ink also from the 
surface and thus avoid stirring any sediment which may still 
remain in the ink. In other words, the sediment which is found 
in even the most carefully ground ink should never be used for 
washes, otherwise streaks and spots may show in the washes. 

Where only a small surface is to be rendered the tint can be 
mixed on a piece of paper in the same manner in which it is mixed 
in the saucer. Thus various shades can be obtained more quickly 
and experiments made more easily. Skill in laying washes is 
only acquired by practice. However, some instruction is neces¬ 
sary. If, after all possible care has been taken during the draw¬ 
ing, such as placing paper under the hand to keep the paper from 
getting greasy and keeping the drawing covered to protect it from 
the dust, the paper has nevertheless become soiled, it should be 


26 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


cleaned by giving it a light sponging with a very soft sponge and 
perfectly clean water. Touch the surface lightly, sop on the water 
liberally, and dry it off immediately with a sponge or blotter with ¬ 
out rubbing. Before washing, the paper should be cleaned by 
rubbing it very lightly with a soft rubber. Especial care must be 
taken not to injure the surface of the paper by rubbing too hard. 

It may seem that all this care is unnecessary, but it is only 
by observing this extreme care that the skilled draftsman obtains 
the transparent wash and the beautiful, even, clear tints free from 
all streaks, which give so much charm to an India ink rendering. 

Handling the Brush. Skill in handling the brush is acquired 
only by constant practice. The brush demands great lightness of 
hand. The right arm should never support the body. The arm 
should not rest on the drawing; only the little finger of the right 
hand should come in contact with the paper. The brush should 
be held somewhat like a pencil between the thumb and index 
finger, and the little finger should be very free in its movements. 
Touch the paper only with the point of the brush. 

The brush should be well filled with the tint and care should 
be taken that there is practically the same amount of tint in the 
brush at all times. If this is not done, for example, if the 
brush is allowed to get too dry, one part of the wash will dry 
faster than the other and streaks will result. 

If the brush should be too wet, the surplus moisture can be 
removed by touching it to blotting paper. 

If the paper.is too wet the surplus tint can be removed by 
drying the brush on blotting paper and applying it to the surplus 
tint which will then be rapidly absorbed by the brush. Great care 
must be taken not to remove too much of the tint; otherwise it 
will dry too fast and leave a streak. 

Laying Washes. There are two kinds of washes; the clear 
washes used in rendering shadows, window openings, etc., and the 
washes in which the color is allowed to settle, the latter being used 
to render the grounds surrounding a building. When laying 
clear washes it is better to tip the board slightly so that the washes 
may flow slowly in the direction in which they are being carried. 
If the board is placed flat there is danger of the wash running 
back over the part that is already dry and thus forming a streak. 






DORIC DOORWAY FROM ROMAN TEMPLE AT CORI, ITALY. 

An example of classic lettering, conventional shadows and rendering. 

Reproduced by permission of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 



































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


27 


The edge of the wash should always be kept wet, for if it begins to 
dry a streak will surely follow. The tint should be carried down 
evenly across the board, moving the brush rapidly from side to 
side so that one side does not advance faster than the other. Carry 
the tint down about an inch at a time, the amount depending upon 
the size of the brush and of the surface rendered. Always go 
over the previous half inch at every new advance, taking care not 
to touch any part that has already dried. In this way the tint will 
dry gradually, parallel to the work. Carry the sides of the tint 
forward a little more slowly than the center. This will make the 
tint run towards the center and help to avoid the lines or streaks 
due to uneven drying. 

The tint should be carried forward in such a way that the 
paper will be thoroughly and evenly wet. In fact, it is a very 
good plan to dampen the entire drawing with a soft sponge before 
beginning to lay a wash. This dampening should be carried well 
beyond the edges of the drawing so as to prevent the color from 
spreading to the drier and more absorbent parts of the paper. 
Always remove the pool of tint which remains at the bottom of a 
wash in the manner described under Handling the Brush.” If 
allowed to remain it will dry more slowly than the rest of the 
drawiim and a streak will show. 

The drawing board should be left inclined until the wash is 
dry. Never lay one wash over another before the previous one is 
absolutely dry. 

In laying washes which grade gradually, either from dark to 
light or light to dark, grade the tint by the addition of water or 
color each time that an advance is made, and be careful that these 
additions are such that the change in color is made evenly. 

It is very difficult to lay an evenly graded dark tint with one 
wash only. It is usually better to lay a light flat wash or a light 
graded wash to serve for a background on which to lay the'dark 
graded wash. By a flat wash is meant a wash which is the same 
tone or color throughout; that is, a wash that is not graded. See 
opening in Doric Doorway, Homan Temple, Cori, opposite page. 

Water has to be added constantly in grading. Where there 
is a series of graded washes, as in successive windov/ openings, it 
is better to have two or three saucers containing tints of different 


28 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


strength and cany each tint for the same distance in each window so 
that the gradation of color may be the same. In grading in this way 
it is necessary to carry each new wash well hack over the old one so 
the point where one tint ends and another begins may not show. 

Sometimes gradations are obtained by laying successive flat 
washes, each wash beginning a little lower than the previous one. 
In this way the rendered surface will' begin with one flat tint and 
end with a number of tints, one on top of the other. This is called 
the French method and is done by drawing very faint parallel 
lines at close intervals to mark the limit of each wash. A very 
light wash is then put over the whole surface, and this is followed 
with successive washes, each starting; from the next lower line. 
This method is especially good for rendering narrow, long, hori¬ 
zontal graded washes. See rendering of mouldings in classical cor¬ 
nice opposite. Note particularly the applicatioir^f this method on 
the crown moulding, and practically all the curved mouldings. 

Avoid laying too many washes in the same place, as the con¬ 
tinuous wetting and rubbing which the paper gets from the brush 
is liable to injure the surface. 

If the tints are too dark, a soft sponge can be used to lighten 
them or to take out hard or dark border lines ; but a large brush 
about two inches wide is still better for this purpose. If it is 
necessary to use a sponge, use it with a great deal of water, rub 
very lightly and very patiently. The water should be kept very 
clean, and the surrounding parts should be thoroughly wet before 
wetting the tinted part, otherwise the tint may spread over the 
other parts of the drawing. After using the sponge, dry the paper 
carefully with a clean blotter. Another and better way is to place 
the whole drawing under the faucet, turn on the water and use the 
sponge or brush, as already described, on the parts to be lightened. 

To make light places darker, use the point of a brush, apply¬ 
ing the tint in small dots. Be careful not to begin with too dark 
a tint. This process is called stippling, and it must be done very 
gradually and very carefully. 

Do not forget that the first quality of a wash is crispness. It 
is necessary to draw with the same precision with a brush as with 
a pencil. When the drawing is finished it should be allowed to 
dry thoroughly before it is cut from tlie drawing board. 



Showing Lights and Shadows on Classical Cornice, 
and French Method of Rendering. 













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PRAIRIE FARM BUNGALOW IN A WESTERN STATE 

R. C. Spencer, Jr., Architect, Chicago, Ill. 

The Windmill Tower Contains the Staircase Leading to Attic and Cellar. 



PLAN OF PRAIRIE FARM BUNGALOW 

R. C. Spencer, Jr., Architect, Chicago, Ill. 

Credit is Due “ The House Beautiful” Magazine, Owner of the Copyright, 

for the Use of this Picture. 

































































































































































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


29 


Rendering Elevations. The object of rendering a drawing 
is to explain the building. Those parts of the building nearest to 
the spectator should show the greatest contrast in light and dark, 
for in nature, as an object recedes from the eye, the contrast be¬ 
comes feebler and feebler and finally vanishes in a monotone. 
Every elevation shows the horizontal and vertical dimensions of a 
building, or details of a building, but in a line drawing the pro¬ 
jections of the different parts when in direct front elevation are not 
shown ; and it is to indicate these projections that the shadows are 
cast and the drawing is rendered. The appearance of a building 
or any details of a building will be clearly shown by the shadows 
in their different values of light and dark. (See plates, pages 18 
and 23.) The windows and other openings of a building should 
be colored dark, but not black—although this is sometimes re¬ 
quired in competition drawings—and varying lighter tints should 
be used to indicate the color of the material in the roof and walls, 
the difference in the color intensity indicating the varying dis¬ 
tances from the spectator. Note in plate on page 5, the com¬ 
parative values of rendering in roof and shadows on roof ; also 
portions of order in light, portions in shadow, and background of 
column. This method of drawing is frequently carried to an elab¬ 
orate extent by showing high lights, reflected shadows, etc., and an 
elevation can thus he made to show almost as much of the character 
of the proposed building as would be shown by a perspective view 
or by a photograph of the completed structure. See frontispiece. 
Fragments from Roman Temple at Cori.” Study the different 
tone values of the various objects in the foreground and in the 
background, and note the perspective effect of the background. 

It is a good plan, before starting to render a drawing, to make 
a small pencil sketch to determine the tone values which the vari¬ 
ous surfaces should have, so that they will assume their proper 
relative positions in the picture. 

Drawings of this kind are much superior to any others as a 
means of studying the probable effect of the building to be con¬ 
structed, as they show the character of the building and, at the 
same time, dimensions can be figured directly on the drawing. It 
is difficult and unusual to give measurements on a perspective 
drawing. 


30 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


Rendering Sections and Plans. Sections are frequently ren¬ 
dered in the same manner as elevations to show the interior of 
buildings. The shadows are cast in such a way that they show the 
dimensions and shapes of the rooms. The parts actually in section 
are outlined with a somewhat heavier line and tinted with a light 
tint. The surfaces are modeled just as they are in the elevations. 
See opposite page. 

Plans are rendered to show the character of the different 
rooms by tinting the mosaic, furniture, surrounding grounds, trees, 
walks, etc. The shadows of walls, statuary, columns and furniture 
are often cast, so that the completed rendered plan is an architec¬ 
tural composition which tells more than airy other drawing the 
character of the finished huildino*. 

The interior of the building and all covered porticoes are left 
much lighter than the surrounding grounds because the building 
is the most important portion of a drawing and should, therefore, 
receive the first attention of the spectator. The sharp contrast of 
the black and white of the plan to the surroundings brings about 
the desired effect. The mosaic, furniture, etc., should be put in in 
very light tints in order to avoid giving the plan a spotty look. 
The walls in the plan should be tinted dark or blacked in so that 
they will stand out clearly. See Pig. 17. 

Graded Tints. One rule in laying all tints should be strictly 
followed : Grade every wash. A careful study of the actual 
shadows on buildings will show that each shadow varies slightly in 
degree of darkness ; that is, shows a gradation. The lower parts 
of window openings are, as a rule, lighter than the upper parts. 
Therefore, the washes or tints should grade from dark at the top 
of the door or window openings to light at the bottom. Further¬ 
more, it will be found that the reflection from the ground lights up 
shadows cast on the building, so that shadows which are dark at the 
top become almost as light as the rest of the building at its base. 

Windows and doors are voids in the facade of a building, and 
they have a greater value in the composition of a design than 
shadows or ornaments in general. This character should be care¬ 
fully shown in the rendering ; and to that end the grading should 
never show such violent contrasts as to distract the eye from the 
design as a whole, and thus destroy the unity of the design and 





ffr^ftiTt.'**'^; ^'- *r. «•■ 




m 


Section Through Vaulted Ceiling, Showing Conventional Shadows and Method of Rendering. 



















ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


31 


the true mass of the openings. Many good designs are greatly 
injured in the rendering by the violent contrast in the grading of 
the openings from dark to light. 

In the shadow itself it will be found that detail is accented or 



Fig. 17. Conventional Method of Rendering Plan, 














































82 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


brought out by reflected shadows. These shadows are in a direc¬ 
tion opposite to the shadows cast by the sun. If the light is 
assumed to come in the conventional way, namely at an angle of 
forty-five degrees from the upper front left corner to the lower 
back right corner, the reflected light may be assumed to be at an 
angle of forty-five degrees from the lower right front corner to the 
upper left rear corner, and the reflected shadows will accordingly be 
cast in this direction. See detail of Greek Doric Order, page 5. 

If these are worked up in their correct relation to one another 
the character of the details will be well expressed. 

Distinction Between Different Planes. The different planes 
of a building which project one in front of the other are distin¬ 
guished from each other in the following manner: 

The parts toward the front have a warm color, the portions 
receiving direct light have a tone over them indicating the mate¬ 
rial, the shadows are strong and bold, and the reflected shadows 
are more or less pronounced. The parts toward the rear, on the 
other hand, have no such strong contrasts of light and dark. The 
light parts are often left very light and the shadows put in even 
tones. The further the object is from the spectator the less pro¬ 
nounced will be the reflected lights and shadows. Note the grad¬ 
ing on the steps in plate, page 18, and study the frontispiece as 
an illustration of this point. 

In rendering, a difference should be made for different mate¬ 
rials. Note the difference between the stone and the metal work 
on opposite page. 

A FEW WATER COLOR HINTS FOR DRAFTSMEN. 

Many draftsmen who are strong in drawing, are very weak in 
color work. The reason for this is, in most cases, that the colors 
are not fresh, that the brush is too dry, and that the color values are 
not correct. Fresh crisp color is most important. To get this 
it is necessary to start with a clean color box, clean brushes, and 
clean paints. The colors should be moist and not dry and hard. 

Tube and Pan Colors. After having acquired some facility 
in the use of colors, tube colors are the best to use, althouo'h 
they are somewhat more wasteful than pan colors. They are less 
likely to harden and dry up and are not more expensive. The 



Showing Difference in Rendering Stone and Metal 



































































































































-r - <; 







* V 




ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


33 


colors ill tlie tubes can be squeezed out on tlie palette as needed, 
and if this is done fresh bright effects are obtained. For the be¬ 



ginner, however, pan colors are recommeded, as they are more 
easy to handle. Fig. 18 shows a japanned tin box for pan colors. 
Fig. 19 shows a pan color, and Fig. 20 a tube color. 

List of Colors: The followincr list of colors will make a 
very good palette: 


Cadmium 
Indian Yellow 
Lemon Yellow 
Gallstone 
Yellow. Ochre 


Orange Vermilion 
Carmine 
Light Red 
Burnt Sienna 
Warm Sepia 


Cobalt Blue 
New Blue 
Prussian Blue 
Paine's Gray 


Emerald Green 
Hooker's Green 

Chinese White 


The colors printed in italics are clear colors which will give 
clear even washes. The others will settle out, the color settling 






^WINShkWl^EWTUN 

RatHboue Place. XTDn 
XONDON, ENGLAND 
MOISTiCOEOim. 


Fig. 19. Pan Color. 


Pig. 20. Tube Color, 


into the pores of the paper producing many small spots. This 
effect is often desirable, giving a texture which cannot be obtained 
with the clear colors 



















































































34 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


For use in the offices, India ink, Chinese white, gallstone, 
carmine and indigo will be found very convenient. The latter 
three are convenient forms of the three primary colors to use with 
India ink in rendering. Alany draftsmen use these alone. 

iTanipulation. The washed-out look of many of the color 
sketches seen in architectural exhibitions is very noticeable. The 
sketches lack strength and crispness. 

Color properly applied should be put on boldly in broad 
simple washes without fear of too much color. Remember that 
colors when dry are much lighter than when in a moist state. Use 
plenty of clear water in the brush. Do not go over one wash with 
another before the first is entirely dry. This is particularly true 
where a deeper tone is to be put over a lighter one. In broad sky 
washes where there is a great deal of paper to be covered, dampen 
the surface well first with a small sponge, then with a large brush 
and bold yet light quick strokes put in the sky. 

Brushes and Paper. A small brush with a good point is 
necessary for ‘‘ drawing in ” and for detail. A bristle brush is very 
useful to remove color and to soften hard lines. Chinese brushes 
are very good, as they hold a great deal of color and at the same 
time have a good point. 

If an edge shows a hard line, this can be softened by dipping 
the bristle brush into clean water and rubbing the point lightly 
over the edge that is too hard, sopping up the water at frequent 
intervals with a clean blotter. It is important that plenty of cleoM 
water should be used and that the water be taken up with a blotter 
very often. 

AVhen a ‘‘high light” is lost, and a bristle brush does not 
take out enough color, the “high light” may be put in with 
Chinese white, mixing it with a little of the color of the material. 

Look at your subject broadly and do not try to put in too 
many details. Whatman’s hot pressed 70- or 90-lb. paper is good 
to use. The hot pressed paper, which has a smooth surface, takes, 
the color better than the rough surfaced or cold pressed paper, but 
the cold pressed has more texture and gives better atmospheric 
effects. 

Combination of Color. For the inexperienced a few hints as 
to what combinations of color to use may be helpful. It must 






A beautiful example of rendering in wash, showing conventional method of representing 
plan and surrounding grounds. This is usually done in strong contrasting colors. 
The black rectangles indicate statuary; the crossed lines arbors. Note 
how the shadows of the building, terraces, statuary, etc., help to 
give interest to the drawing. 






















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RESIDENCE OF MR. ARTHUR T. STILSON, MONTCLAIR, N. J. 

A. P. Norris, Architect, New York. 

A Large Ionic Order Used on the Front Porch. For First-Floor Plan, See Following Page. 






























RESIDENCE OF MR. ARTHUR T. STILSON, MONTCLAIR 

A. F. Norris, Architect, New York. 

For Exterior, See Preceding Page. 






































































































































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


35 


always be remembered that the colors must be clean to get fresh 
bright effects. 

A simple blue sky: Prussian Blue, Antwerp Blue or Cobalt Blue. 
Clouds: Light Bed. For the distance use lighter tones with the 
addition of a little Emerald Green or Carmine. 

Dark part of clouds: Light Bed and New Blue. 

Beads and pathways in sunlight: Yellow Ochre and Light Bed with 
a little New Blue to gray it. 

Cast shadows: Cobalt and Light Bed or Carmine with a little green 
added. 

Grass in sunlight: Lemon Yellow and Emerald or Hooker’s Green; 

or Indian Yellow and Emerald Green. 

Grass in shadow: Prussian Blue and Indian Bed; or Prussian 
Blue and Burnt Sienna. Aurora Yellow and Prussian Blue 
gives a green color similar to Emerald. 

For gray roofs in sunlight: Light Bed and New Blue. 

Primary, Secondary and Complementary Colors. The com¬ 
bination of colors may be learned by means of the diagram, Fig. 21, 
which will assist the student greatly in his water color work. The 
three primary colors are yellow, red and blue. The combination 

of any two of these will give a sec¬ 
ondary color—orange, purple or 
green. Two colors are called com¬ 
plementary colors if the one is com¬ 
posed of two of the primary colors 
and the other one is the third pri¬ 
mary color. Thus, green, composed 
of the primary colors blue and yel¬ 
low, has as complementary color the 
third primary color; i.e.^ red. Con¬ 
sulting the diagram it will be found 
that opposite colors are complemen¬ 
tary colors; i.e.^ blue and orange, 
red and green, yellow and purple. If two complementary colors aro 
put alongside of one another, each color will look brighter along¬ 
side the other than if placed by itself; this is due to the law of 
contrasts. Thus, the same green if placed alongside red, will look 
greener than when by itself, and the same holds good for the 







36 


AKCHITECTUKAL DIIAWIXO 


red. If complementary colors are mixed together you get a softer 
color, a gray and sometimes muddy effect. If blue, red and yel¬ 
low are mixed together in the right proportion a soft gray is 
obtained 

Water Color Rendering. Where colors are used for architec¬ 
tural drawings they should be mixed fresh, if clear tints are wanted, 
but in places where it is desired to have certain effects obtained by 
allowing color to settle, tints that have stood some time may be 
used. Especially is this true for plans, where the color is allowed 
to settle in putting in grass, trees, statues, etc. When it is desired 
to let the color settle it is better to leave the board flat and carry 
the color along with the brush, leaving it until it is dry. Some 
draftsmen keep the board level for all their work. 

Sketch elevations in pencil may be inked in or may be ren¬ 
dered directly in water color, the shadows being cast and various 
colored tints laid on to show the different materials, shadows, win¬ 
dow openings, etc. 

Sketches rendered in sepia only are very effective, putting in 
the lines with the pen, and rendering with light sepia washes. 
Elevations are usually most effective when the shadows are put in 
by washes that grade quickly from dark to light, brilliancy is thus 
obtained. It is astonishing what effects can be obtained with very 
faint washes. This applies especially to small scale drawings. 
The larger the scale of the building or detail, the stronger should 
be the colorino* and values of liorht and dark. 

O o 

When sections are colored the parts actually in section are 
outlined with a strong red line and tinted a very light pink. The 
colors on the wall are merely suggested. 

On the plans the mosaic, furniture, etc., is often shown in a 
light pink. Where a statue has a prominent place it is put in in 
strong vermilion. Attention is called here to the fact that letter¬ 
ing on a plan counts as mosaic, and should be done in such a way 
that it will help the effect sought for, a very important point to 
remember in competition drawings. 

The important thing to remember in rendering is to get the 
correct relative value of lights and darks. To do this it is neces¬ 
sary to have clearly in mind what the important features to be 
brought out are and what is the most direct way of accomplishing 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


37 


this; in other words, the aim should be to make as harmonious a 
composition as taste, talent and thought can produce. 

Water Color Sketching. Nothing is more useful to an archi¬ 
tectural draftsman than out-of-door sketching in colors. A water 
color block should be his constant companion on his Saturday half 
holidays, and, if possible, he should join some sketching class. 

The sketches in water color may be taken from natural scenery, 
but the student should also make studies and color sketches from 
color decorations of exterior and interior of buildings. 

Do not indicate too much in water color sketching, search for 
tlic big masses in shape and color values and put them in direct 
and simple. 

A draftsman who gives his leisure time to water color sketch¬ 
ing in summer, and to evening classes in drawing from the antique 
and from life in winter, will have as good a training as could be 
wished for in this part of his architectural career. 

PRELIMINARY STUDIES IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN. 

Methods of Study. Different designers work up their draw¬ 
ings in individual ways. Good results are, as a rule, accomplished 
by getting ideas on paper, comparing and working up the best, and 
combining different features from the different sketches. Some men 
of the highest ability prefer to work in this way. Others work up 
the ideas in their minds before drawing them on paper, often not 
changing a line once it is put on paper. The latter proceeding is 
dangerous, as it tends to make the designer satisfied with the first 
idea that comes to his mind, and makes him unwilling to search for 
other ideas; he is liable to become narrow and careless. 

Putting Ideas on Paper. The problem which the architect 
has to work out is to make the building of a form and of dimensions 
best suited to the demands of the client, so that all the parts are in 
good proportion and in harmony with each other. Much detail in 
former times was studied on the building in course of construction, 
but now everything has to be prepared beforehand, and the smallest 
details foreseen before the building is commenced. The preliminary 
sketches are generally made on a small scale, one-eighth inch, one- 
sixteenth inch, or one-thirty-second inch to the foot, worked up from 
rough thumb-nail sketches often not drawn to scale. Some design- 


38 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


ers will work up their schemes upon the back of an envelope, and 
these can be brought into scale in the same proportion in which they 
are sketched out by means of the proportional dividers. 

Architectural work is half way between mechanical drawing 
and so-called freehand drawing, permitting more freehand work 
than an engineer would consider proper, and demanding more line 
drawing than an artist would think of employing. 

The most successful architectural design generally comes from 
numerous freehand sketches, as well as accurate studies, frequent 
erasing and changing on the original drawing, placing studies side 
by side and comparing them, until a satisfactory solution is found. 
It is only by continued practice that freedom of expression is obtained, 
and without this faculty, the best ideas are useless. The well- 
equipped architect carries a soft pencil, and sketches as rapidly as 
possible every new impression on paper. 

Use of Tracing Paper. When the plan has been well studied, a 
sketch of the elevation and section should be made as a check on the 
“scale” of the plan. Tracing paper should be constantly used, both 
in making rough studies over the drawing and in making accurate 
line-drawings for comparison of the different schemes. These draw¬ 
ings on tracing paper as studies in proportion, should be as accurate 
as the finished drawing, though, of course, no care is necessary in giv¬ 
ing them a finished appearance, and the straight lines may run across 
intersections, and erasures and changes may be made freely. 

METHOD OF STARTING A PROBLEM AT THE ECOLE DES 

BEAUX ARTS, PARIS. 

At the School of Fine Arts, in Paris, when a problem is given 
to the students, they are obliged to work one day by themselves 
getting out the scheme of the building. Each student then takes 
a tracing of his “ sketch,” leaving the original at the school. In his 
own “atelier” or drafting room, he works up the “sketch” with the 
criticism of his own professor and fellow students. At the end of 
four or six weeks the finished drawings are sent to the school to be 
exhibited and prizes or mentions awarded by the jury selected by 
the school. The preliminary work of the “sketch” is very similar 
to actual practice, because an architect is often obliged, in a very 
short time, to get out preliminary sketches for a client, and these 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


39 


having been accepted, it is his duty to carry them out with as little 
change as possible, excepting to perfect the proportions and details. 

Sketch Plans. The plans, even in the studies, should have 
the walls colored in with any appropriate color, such as dark gray, 
as otherwise it is very difficult to see on paper the proportion of the 
spaces, the ease of circulation, and the general character of the whole 
in mass and in detail. 

Sketch Elevations. After the plans have been thoroughly 
studied the elevations may be worked up, studying the architectural 
style and general character of the exterior in relation to the plan. 
These drawings should be studied over and over again on tracing 
paper, casting the shadows so that the projection of cornices and 
sizes of window openings may be seen; at this time also details of a 
larger scale may be studied in sketch form. 

On the elevations or in perspective, the jointing of the stone, 
brick or terra cotta, may be drawn and this will give a surface texture 
that may save further rendering. 

Perspective Studies. For all smaller buildings, such as 
cottages, farm buildings and small public buildings, requiring a 
picturesque treatment, such as a broken roof line, it is better, instead 
of spending much time on elevations with the shadows cast, to draw 
almost at the start, a perspective from the most important point of 
view, and make rapid sketch perspectives from several different 
points of view. 

Perspective Drawing. A perspective shouia be made of 
every building designed, primarily in order that the designer may see 
how planes at right angles—for instance, the side and front eleva¬ 
tions—come together, and also how roof lines will look from the 
customary point of sight. This is especially necessary in buildings 
of a picturesque character. A perspective is also generally demanded 
for exhibition purposes, so that clients may gain a better idea of the 
appearance of the proposed building. 

Perspective sketches to explain certain points in the drawings 
are of great value. Very difficult detail drawings may have sketched 
on them the details in perspective from different points of view. 
These sketches will explain more clearly than many careful drawings 
how certain parts come together. Such drawings are very welcome 
in the workshop and on the building in course of construction. 


40 


Ar.CHITECTURAL DRAWING 


EXHIBITION DRAWINGS. 

Exhibition or show drawings consist of plans, elevations, sec¬ 
tions, and perspectives; the drawings are in line, pencil, pen and ink, 
or color; and all are carefully drawn and mounted, to show the 
scheme for the proposed building. These may be the preliminary 
sketches of an architect regularly employed, or they may be com¬ 
petition drawings. 

The plan is blacked-in, the furniture delicately tinted, and the 
surroundings rendered in monotone or color. On the elevations 
the windows are colored in with graded washes. Every shadow is 
cast and tinted in; if in color, the different materials are indicated 
by different colors. In the sections shadows are cast on the section 
and the color schemes of the various apartments are suggested. 

The general idea of the proposed building is best presented to 
the public by a perspective view, rendered in pencil, pen and ink or 
color. The perspective is generally laid out in the architect’s office 
and then it is sent to a professional artist for completion. 

SKETCHING. 

We have considered drawings made on a drawing board with 
T-square and triangles. There is another way of drawing, that is, 
by sketching. 

The sketch is the most rapid means of progressing in the art of 
designing. In sketching an object one examines it more closely than 
one otherwise would. Not only is it necessary to understand a com¬ 
position, to distinguish its separate parts, but it is necessary to fix 
the relation of these parts and to study carefully the proportions. 
The eye alone is the real instrument for measurement and guide for 
proportion, and the sketch is the means for training the eye. Prac¬ 
tice alone will give facility in sketching. 

Do not make sketches primarily in order to collect material, but 
make them in order to learn how to see. Sketch books may be kept 
as souvenirs, but the profit from them will be more in the instruc¬ 
tion gained while making the sketch than in the sketches themselves. 
Through abundant sketching a freedom in the expression of idea,^ 
is also gained. 

The point to keep in view in sketching is to show the character 
gf the subject attempted. The exact dimensions one can get only with 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


41 


the tape-line, but the most carefully measured drawings often fail to 
show much character. A photograph is liable to represent a subject 
other than as the eye and hand see it. But if the effect of the sub¬ 
ject, the impression of the beholder, can be reproduced in the sketch, 



Fig, 23. Cross-Section Paper. 


something has been obtained which the tape and the camera cannot 
hope to accomplish. 

Materials for Sketching, At first it is a good idea to use cross- 
section paper, paper ruled in squares of i in. or less, which makes 
it easier to draw at right angles; but from the moment that the 
draftsman is able to get along without these lines he should employ 
only blank paper. A small sketch book should be carried in the 
pocket. For small pencil sketches a smooth paper (metallic paper) 































































































































































































































































































































































































































































42 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


gives crisp effects, but much rubbing cannot be done. A gray paper 
gives good effects with pencil or color used as a medium, chalk or 
Chinese white giving the high lights. 

The sketches can be made in pencil, charcoal, ink, crayon, or 
in colors; the medium of expression is of little importance, as, 
aftf r having learned to see an object rightly, the drawing can be made, 
as Ruskin says, ‘'with a stick of wood charred at the end.’’ A sketch 
should be light and clear. Shadows may be cast, but merely to 
express the projections, and should be only lightly shaded in. 

Subjects to Sketch. In almost every city there are small 
classes in freehand and charcoal drawing which the architectural 
student should, if possible, attend; and in connection with every 
art museum there are generally day and evening classes. But 
great progress may be made by individual work in drawing interest¬ 
ing objects. Do not commence with making a sketch of a whole 
building. Sketch individual features, like a doorway, some orna¬ 
ment, etc. Sketches of buildings or motives of buildings should be 
made in direct projection as well as in perspective. The sketches 
in perspective will help to explain the geometrical sketches and to 
teach the student to think in three dimensions. 

A great deal can be learned by copying photographs of good 
work, but the greatest benefit is derived by drawing from nature. 
By the latter the student learns almost unconsciously the laws of per¬ 
spective, form, and proportion, and above all learns to think “in the 
solid.” It leads to the appreciation of the fact that architectural 
drawing is the expression of solids, and in order that these solids 
shall be successfully shown, the one that draws them has to see them 
in his mind’s eye as they actually are going to appear when built. 

He should be very careful in the selection of his models to draw 
from, and choose only such that are beautiful. Too often the stu¬ 
dent is told to draw no matter what, under the pretext that it is always 
an exercise. Without doubt it is difficult to draw any model at first 
exactly, but what does it amount to if he occupies his time with copy¬ 
ing those things which do not stimulate and develop his sense of 
beauty. There is no better practice than to draw a flower, a leaf; 
and if he has access to museums, etc., he should draw from the 
antique models, sculpture, and ornamental subjects. By drawing 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


43 


the latter he can learn besides how in olden times natural objects 
were conventionalized for use in decoration. 

Memory sketches are excellent practice. Go to see a model, 
study it as carefully as possible; then go home and make a sketch of 
it. The student may be sure that his memory will betray him, and 
he should go back to the subject and study it again and again—twice 
or three times if necessary—after which he will finally arrive at a 
reasonably accurate sketch. 

MEASURED WORK. 

There are two occasions for making measurements of old build¬ 
ings; one, when it is proposed to make alterations; the other, for the 
sake of study, making drawings of portions either for immediate 
study or future reference. * • 

Materials. It is a good plan if possible to take a small draw¬ 
ing board, T-square, and triangles to the building. Cross-section 
paper ruled one-eighth inch between light lines and one inch between 
heavy lines is very convenient. See illustration. Fig. 22, showing 
use of cross-section paper. Drawings may be laid out directly to 
scale on this paper, at one-eighth, one-quarter, or one-sixteenth inch 
to the foot, or details drawn at three-quarters inch to the foot, or 
full size. 

Measuring Tapes. The dimensions should be taken with a 
tape, and for architectural work a ‘‘metallic” tape or cloth reinforced 
with fine wires and having clear figures, is very satisfactory, though 
it will be advisable to use a steel tape for very accurate work. 

Datum Lines. As a general rule, it is best in frame buildings 
to take the horizontal measurements on the sill line, making a small 
section to show the relation of the sill to the walls. In brick and 
stone buildings they should be taken on the outside wall face or ashlar 
line. For heights, the finished floor levels should be taken as starting 
points, the main first floor of the building being the general datum. 
If there are many projections in plan it will be well to draw a straight 
base line and measure it from this line. If old buildings are out of 
level it will be. necessary to use a straight edge or draw a level line 
on the wall and measure up and down from this level. 

Hand Level. The hand level will be found very convenient 
for obtaining approximately the grades about the building. This 



44 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


is a small instrument used by railroad engineers in working out the 
elevations on each side of the track. The level can be also obtained 
by looking toward the horizon, pulling down the hat brim until the 
point coincides with it, turning on the heel carry the horizon level 
to the direction desired. This will give a point at the level with the 
eye. 

Elevation Measurements. Total distances should be taken, 
and interior heights from floor to floor (with thickness of floors) 
should be run from basement floor to top of roof, and if possible a line 
should be dropped down the outside of the building to check this. 
It is well to mark size of glass, and give outside dimensions of sashes. 



Fig. 23. Twelve-inch Single Jointed Rule and Level. 


taking dimensions to centers of windows or edges of stone or brick 
openings. Measurements are given by some architects from frame 
to glass openings. Sketches or details should be made of typical 
windows, and variations from the type, iloof piiches may be obtained 
by a level and measuring the rise per foot, or outside dimensions and 
total rise may be taken. A convenient instrument for doing this 
work is a twelve-inch single-jointed rule and level, shown in Fig. 23. 

Arches. In measuring arches, the height A, Fig. 24, from the 
ground to the spring of the arch should be given, the total height B, 
and the width C. The curve is obtained by giving the length of the 
radii or by laying a'straight edge, D F, against the curve and measur- 




























































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


45 


ing the distance D E, which wih locate one point in the curve. Other 
points may be taken by offsets from the straight edge. 

Projections. Projections are o})tained by measuring in from 
a plumb line. The diameter of columns may be ascertained by means 

of two parallel straight edges or by dividing the 
circumference by 3.1416. 

Inaccessible Portions. In places where it 
is impossible to reach the point it is desired to 
measure there are several ways of obtaining the 
dimensions with considerable accuracy. A photo¬ 
graph should always be taken of the building 
measured, and a proportional scale can be made 
from the known dimensions, which can be used 
on the photograph for determining unknown 
dimensions. 

Approximations. In brick, stone, clapboarded or shingled 
buildings the different courses may be counted and the totals figured 
from those that can be measured. Where rapid memorandum 
sketches are made distances may be easily obtained by pacing, some 
men taking nearly a three-foot pace, others walking easily five feet 
in two steps. In this case every other step is counted as five feet. 
The total heights may be obtained by measuring up as high as can 
be reached, then standing at a distance, holding a pencil at this 
known height, measuring the distance by the eye to the top of the 
building. Or, a man’s height can be taken to gauge the approxi¬ 
mate height. The foot rule may be held up at such a distance from 
the eye that every quarter inch corresponds to a foot on the building, 

and the dimensions can be read off in this wav. 

«/ 

Rubbings. Rubbings may be taken of tablets, lettering and 
flat ornaments by laying papt^r on the ornament and rubbing over it 
with a shoemakers’ heel ball. The pattern cut in will be left white 
and the rest of the surface will be blackened by the heel ball. 



Fig. 24. Measurement 
of Arches. 










SPECIMEN PAGE FROM INSTRUCTION PAPER ON THE ORDERS. 



























































































































































































































































PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN DESIGN 


NOTES ON THEORY OF DESIGN 

Composition. It is impossible to formulate laws of composition 
which, even if faithfully observed, will absolutely insure satisfactory 
results. That is to say, any work of art—such as a picture, a statue, 
or a building—may comply with all the general laws of composition 
and still not be really artistic. 

A great deal depends on the feeling of the designer. A carpenter 
may make a cornice for the exterior of a house, or a mantel-piece for 
the interior, without having been taught any of the formal laws of 
composition; and nevertheless, by careful study and through the de¬ 
sire to build something pleasing, may produce something much more 
artistic than the most carefully wrought effort of a designer who knows 
all these so-called laws but lacks all artistic feeling. 

Workmen in the various trades can resist the architect materially 
in producing an artistic result. One of the most desirable character¬ 
istics in a workman is that he shall execute the wishes of the owner as 
expressed in the architect’s drawings, and carry them out as artistically 
as possible in every detail. There is a certain character in every piece 
of work which every workman should try to understand and carry out 
in a simple, frank, decisive, and straightforward way. Every work¬ 
man feels the value of truthfulness in work, and objects to sham in 
doing good work. 

Turner, the great English painter, was a man who did everything 
that he had to do, no matter how trivial, well. John Ruskin says of 
him, in his lectures on architecture and painting: 

“He took a poor price that he might live; but he made noble drawings 
that he might learn. He never let a drawing leave his hands without having 
made a step in advance and having dene better in it than he had ever done 

before.** 



48 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


Composition is the art of bringing together various interesting 
details, so that the whole result will be harmonious and pleasing. 

The important features should be on axes, or grouped symmetri¬ 
cally on either side of an imaginary center line. For instance, in a 
room, if the fire place is to be one of the features, it should be cen¬ 
tered "on one of the axes of the room. The remaining features 
should be arranged with relation to the axes or center lines of the 
room so that as a mass they will balance each other. 

In a good composition some single feature should dominate—■ 
for example, in a building, the main gable, or a tower, or a long, simple 
roof line; or in a room, the fireplace or a painting; etc. In decorating 
a house, the general effect should be pleasing, and should not be too 
much broken up by spotted details. There must not be too many 
equally interesting points; otherwise the result is either monotony or 
competition; one point must dominate. There must not, for example, 
be other gables competing with the main gable by being too near the 
size of the main gable. For the same reason it is better to group 
windows and other features in odd numbers and accent the central one. 

It is well to think of the location of the different interesting points. 
In a cottage—to take an example—the gable that is seen from the best 
point of view should be near the center of the perspective; or, again, a 
tower should not be isolated or appear so much at one side from the 
best point of view that it will look as if disconnected from the house. 

The smaller parts of the composition should have a proper relation 
to the main motive. The dormers, for instance, in a cottage, should 
be in the same style as the main gable, or in harmony with the style. 

Nevertheless, all these different parts must be used so that there 
will be some contrast, in order to give life and interest to the compo¬ 
sition. No detail from a different style, however, should be brought 
in without the designer being sure that the harmony of the composition 
is not thereby disturbed. To learn how to compose, it is not sufficient 
to study books and receive instruction in the school or in the drafting 
room; the student must supplement this with the study of nature and 
of objects and buildings themselves. 

Scale. The word ‘‘scale” has been used to designate a measure 
of distance—for example, a scale of one-quarter of an inch to a foot, 

“Scale” is used also in another sense—that is, to designate the 
appearance of a building or any artistic composition, which, without 



ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


40 


considering the actual dimensions, gives us an idea cf the sizeo For 
example, in the two sketches A and B (Fig. 25) the two vases have the 
same proportion; but one is a huge decorative vase standing at the 
side of a fireplace, while the other is a small vase standing on a table. 




Fig. 25. 

It requires the books and other details of well known dimensions to 
suggest the small scale of the one, and the mantel-piece to suggest the 
scale of the other. The same principle is seen in doors and windows, 
in the effect of steps in front of a building, in balustrades, and in all 
details with which we are familiar in our daily life. 

A drawing is “large in scale” when it appears to be drawn at a 
larger scale than has been really used; for example, a drawing of a 
building might look as if it were laid out at quarter-inch scale when it 
was really laid out at one-eighth-inch scai'*. If such a building were 
erected, it would be much larger than the drawing would indicate. 
On the other hand, if it is “small in scale,” the details are too small 
and the building will appear as if it were built for dwarfs. 

The materials used in construction affect the scale of a building— 
such as sizes of brick, stone, clapboards, etc. Arches span larger 
spaces than lintels; iron construction needs fewer supports than stone 
construction. The detail should be somewhat larger in scale in the 
upper part of a building, where it is seen from the ground, from what 
it is in the lower portion near the observer. Interior detail should be 
finer and smaller than exterior detail. 

Statuary, when called “life-size,” is actually made about one- 
quarter of the height larger than life size. The reason for this is that 
objects in the open air, or in large spaces, look smaller than they 

























































































50 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


actually are. The size also depends largely on the height from the 
ground. 

If a building does not appear to be in good scale—that is, if the 
drawing does not suggest the actual size of the building (which may 
be tested by sketching in a figure of a man, and measuring to see if the 
house is in scale or not), the detail should be studied to see that it is 
not too large or too small; other details may be added, such as steps 
or balustrades; or, if the design is an interior, the walls may be deco¬ 
rated with natural objects in the right scale. Anything that will 
suggest the height of the human figure may be used, or stone joints 
and other suggestions of material may be made more evident. 

. Ornament. Architectural ornament is the decorative treatment 
of architectural motives on a building. The ornament should be 
carefully studied on the small-scale designs, and worked up from these 
to the working drawings. 

All ornamentation or decoration should be drawn out on each 
design, and particularly on the small-scale drawings, even if it is to be 
carried out by other designers, modelers, or decorators; for it should be . 
remembered that the one man who is to bring together into a single 
composition all the elements of a design, is the Architect. The dec¬ 
oration, whether sculptured or painted, is executed either from scale 
details or full-size drawings, by the decorator or sculptor. If any 
change is made from the main lines of the design, this change’ should 
be studied on the small-scale drawings; otherwise it may be found 
that the detail is entirely out of scale with the general architectural 
lines. 

It should be clearly understood that loading a building, a mantel; 
a cornice, or any motive with ornament does not make it a work of art. 
Everything depends on where and how the ornament is applied. 
Besides, generally, any motive is more artistic if it is perfectly simple. 

Criticism. All through the work of design, it is of greatest ad¬ 
vantage if criticism can be obtained from other architects and drafts¬ 
men; and even the criticism of outsiders, conscientiously made, will 
frequently suggest valuable improvements in design. Whenever an 
intelligent criticism is received which suggests a change, it should be a 
matter of principle with every designer to make a sketch embodying 
this change, in order to see whether or not the criticism is good. 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


51 


DESIGN OF THE DWELLING 

The plan of the modern residence began to be worked out in the 
18th century. There is a treatise on architecture published at that 
time by Blondel, who says that a complete reformation had been made 
in the architecture of large and small dwellings from the point of view 
principally of the arrangement of rooms; great efforts had been made 
to substitute for the long, rambling succession of single rooms, an 
arrangement of rooms double in depth, with separate communications 
30 indispensable for conveniences in a building. 

It became clear that in a dv/elling the ease of circulation was very 
important, and that the approaches to and exits from the various parts 
had to be well worked out, for the living rooms as well as for the service 
rooms. The aim of architects in the 18th century was for independ¬ 
ence in the house, and it is to this that we owe their very remarkable 
plans. 

The treatise on architecture by Blondel contains many interesting 
plans, well worthy of careful study. On the subject of Room, in 
particular, Blondel gives some interesting data; 

“It seems”, he says, “that within about fifty years French architects 
have, in this respect, invented a new art. Before this, our edifices in France, 
in imitation of those of Italy, had an exterior decoration which made a very 
beautiful architecture; but the interiors were hardly livable. The architects 
seem to have tried to keep out the light; one could hardly find a place for a 
bed and for the principal articles of furniture. The fireplace occupied the 
largest part of the rooms, and the smallness of the doors gave an inadequate 
idea of the places to which they gave entrance .... The arrangement should 
be the first object of the architect; decoration depends absolutely on a well- 
studied plan. It is the arrangement which establishes the length or width 
and the height of a building.” 

Number of Rooms. The great objection to many small houses is 
that the people want the same number of rooms for a small amount 
of money that others have where more money has been spent. A de¬ 
sire to have six rooms and a bath often results in making all the rooms 
tiny and uncomfortable—more like boxes than living, habitable 
spaces. These houses are not necessarily cozy just because they are 
small; a cozy corner in a big room has much more of the cozy feeling 
than is found in the small rooms of an apartment. There should be 
one good-sized room in every house or apartment, even though one 
room has to be sacrificed. 

Hallway. The hallway should be neither a cramped, narrow 


52 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


space, nor arranged in such a way that it will be a draughty part of the 
house. It should be borne in mind that if open from first floor to roof, 
the heat will pass up the hallway; for that reason it should be suffi¬ 
ciently closed off from the other rooms. It may be arranged as a com¬ 
fortable gathering place for the family. Indeed, with the staircase 
kept properly to one side, and with a large fireplace the hallway may 
form the central room of the whole house. 

Stairways. Some men say that they build a house around a 
bathroom, because they consider that the most important room in the 
house. Next in importance is the staircase. The front staircase 
should be easy and large. A 7 to 7j-inc!i rise, with 10 to 10|-inch 
width of tread, is customary, though a GLinch rise with an 11-inch 
tread is easier and looks much better. Staircases, in the better class 
of house, maybe as easy as 6-inch rise by 14-inch tread,or even5j-inch 
rise with 15-inch tread. In back staircases a 7-inch rise with 9-inch 
tread is not too steep; and they are frequently found as steep as'8-inch 
tread. If space allows, the rear staircase should be sufficiently wide 
to take up trunks and furniture—say 3^ to 4 feet, with wide doors 
(3 feet 3 inches) opening into it. In this case the stairs should be 
strongly supported. Staircases may be made fire-resisting by stopping 
the space between the stringers with brick and by covering the under¬ 
side or soffit with metal lath. 

Proportion of Stair Riser to Tread. A good formula to use in 
laying out a stairway is as follows: Let R = the rise and T = the 
tread, then 

2 R "j~ T = 25. 

i. e., twice the height of the riser plus the width of the tread 
should equal 25 inches. 

Living Rooms. The living room, library, parlor, reception room, 
should all be ‘‘livable.’^ The shut-up “best room” is a thing of the 
past. 

Sitting Room. This should have a southerly exposure, so that 
it will be sunny and cheerful all the time. 

The best arrangement for a sitting room is to have the fireplace 
at one end, the windows at the side, and the entrance at the further 
corner. The next best arrangement is to have the fireplace on the 
same side of the room as the entrance, and both on the long: side of 
the room. The most unsatisfactory arrangement is to have the door 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


53 


on the wall opposite the fireplace or close by the fireplace, where there 
is a constant draft. 

The room should express comfort and restfulness. There should 
be no feeling of over-decoration, and nothing in the room should be 
so striking as to be the first and only thing to be seen. The great 
objection to so-called “decoration”, is that each decorator or designer 
thinks only of his own work, consequently making it prominent; and 
it is extremely difficult to make the decorative elements harmonize. 

Dining Room. The dining room should be, as a rule, on the 
side of the house toward the morning sun. It should be cool in sum¬ 
mer and warm in winter, as it is the one room that is necessarily occu¬ 
pied at least three times a day. A westerly outlook is generally dis¬ 
agreeable on account of the low-lying sun for the evening meal. 

Butler’s Pantry. The butler’s pantry should have an outside 
window, and doors leading into the dining room and kitchen. Some¬ 
times a slide is put in, opening into a small china closet in the dining 
room. The butler’s pantry should be quite large. The story is told, 
of an architect who dined with his client several times while he was 
making the sketches; and each time, on his return to his office, he en¬ 
larged the butler^s pantry, and when the building was erected it was 
still one of the cramped rooms in the house. 

Kitchen. The kitchen should not be placed in too close proximity 
to the living rooms, and should be on the northwest corner of the house. 
As a rule, it should be separated from the living parts of the house by 
at least two doors. This is done, partly on account of the odors from 
the cooking, and also because of the heat. A basement kitchen is 
objectionable on this account. The kitchen should be thoroughly 
ventilated, the windows being set high—as near the ceiling as possible 
—to let out the hot air, the sill being located above the backs of the 
tables and sinks. A hood over the range connecting with a ventilating 
flue, is very useful for ventilating. This ventilating flue will be either 
a space around the flue from the kitchen range, which will be con¬ 
stantly warm; or it may be a separate, square flue next the smoke flue 
in the chimney. It is advisable sometimes to put deafening felt over 
the kitchen, so as to prevent the passage of sound and heat if there are 
sleeping rooms above. 

Refrigerator. The refrigerator should be located so that it will 
be easily accessible from the outside, for putting in ice; and it should 


54 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


be near the kitchen without being too near the range. The refriger¬ 
ator drip should never connect directly with the sewer but should have 
a separate pipe leading to a dry well outside the building. The sim¬ 
plest and cleanest way to trap this is as follows: Build a galvanized- 
iron pan large enough to rest on the floor under the drip-pipe of the 
refrigerator; and carry lead pipe from this down into the cellar, ending 
in an ordinary milk jar which stands in another galvanized-iron drip- 
pan connecting with the dry well. 

Storeroom. The storeroom may be made rat-proof by plastering 
on metal instead of wooden lath, and by plastering the ceiling under¬ 
neath with the same lathing, taking the precaution to cover all open¬ 
ings. 

Bathroom. The bathroom may have tile floor and walls, or, for 
ordinary work, a Georgia pine floor, with North Carolina pine sheath¬ 
ing four feet above the floor. A sanitary base—that is, one rounded to 
avoid a corner between the wall and the floor, such as is used in hospi¬ 
tals and in many schoolhouses, may be used. Waterproof paper 
should be put in between the upper and the under floor in the bath¬ 
room, being connected by lead flashing with the outside of the building. 
This will prevent damage in the case of an unexpected overflow. 

Lavatory. A lavatory on the first floor is very convenient. This 
may open from the hall or be connected with a coat closet. It 
should have a window. 

Closets. The closet doors should open in such a way that the 
light from the window shines into the closet. 

On the sleeping-room floor, a housemaid’s closet may be pro¬ 
vided—if possible with an outside window. This closet should con¬ 
tain a galvanized -iron or enameled-iron sink, provided with a flushing 
tank as well as with hot and cold water faucets. 

The linen closet should preferably have no drawers, as they 
furnish hiding places for mice. Shelves will answer every purpose. 

Bicycle and dark rooms, play room, sewing room, billiard room, 
music room, den, conservatory, etc., should also be considered. 

Cellar. The cellar should be well drained, if possible, with a 
drain-pipe separate from the soil-pipe. There should be a blind drain 
under the wall, and the wall should be damp-proofed in damp locations, 
by the use of layers of slate stone extending through the wall at the 
surface of the ground, or layers of well-tarred paper at this point. 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


55 


Waterproof cellars are made by putting down several layers of tarred 
paper well mopped with hot tar or asphalt, on which the concrete cel¬ 
lar floor is laid. As a rule, however, it is best to have the cellar con¬ 
nected either with the soil-pipe or with the blind drain, and to have all 
the concreting put in so that it will slope to one point, where will be 
placed a trap with grating. 

VARIOUS STAGES IN BUILDING A HOUSE 

The point wh^re the majority of people, who know nothing about 
architecture, come in contact with the architect, is when they make up 
their minds to build houses of their own. 

To develop this point more clearly, let us consider the situation 
that arises when a business man wishes to build. 

The problem, as it comes to most men, is a question of number of 
rooms needed, amount of money available, and proposed location of 
house. 

liet us say that Mr. Smith, after lookng at various lots and mak¬ 
ing as many inquiries as possible through friends and acquaintances, 
and having also gone to some real estate agent who deals largely in 
land in such locations as he considers desirable, has obtained an 
option on, or possibly has purchased, a lot, the price being, say, 
$800. He has available $2,000, besides the money he has set 
aside for furnishing the house and paying the architect's fee. 
He is willing to give a mortgage on the house for, say, $3,000. 
Taking $4,600 as the value of his proposed house would leave him a 
margin of $400. Accordingly, he goes to an architect who, he 
he thinks, will plan his house satisfactorily, and tells him the circum¬ 
stances, the requirements, and the amount of money available. A 
visit is made to the lot, to get the points of view, etc., and preliminary 
sketches are made. 

Sketches. From the architect’s point of view, the sketch period 
is vital in respect to the success or failure of tlie house. It is at this 
time that he becomes acquainted with the owner’s ideas and does his 
best to interpret them properly so that there will be no criticism or 
feeling of disappointment on the part of the owner—in other words, 
so that the house will harmonize completely with its owner’s habits 
and tastes. 

Every man has certain hobbies and independent wishes in regard 


56 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


to his house; these the architect should study and give the proper 
expression., 

In regard to the practical use of the house, every member of the 
family, should be thought of and consulted. The architect should 
obtain a careful outline of the requirements from the owner, going 
over the number of rooms, size of rooms, comparing them with rooms 
already known to the owner, heights of stories, location and ex¬ 
posure of rooms, for the view, etc. 

After sufficient data have been procured to make a complete 
schedule, several different plans of the proposed house may be sketched 
out at a small scale. Co-ordinate or section paper is very useful in 
sketching out different schemes. As a general rule, it is better for 
the architect to work out with great care some one plan which he 
considers the most satisfactory. In dealing with some clients, it is 
sometimes better to show this plan only; in the case of other clients, 
“t is better to show them all the studies and consult with them about 
details that would be merely wearisome to other men The sketches 
are generally laid out to the scale of one-eighth inch to the foot, 
though small “thumb-nail’’ sketches are frequently made at no scale, 
or sometimes several ’ different schemes at a scale of one-sixteenth 
inch to the foot. Memoranda should be kept of all conversations 
with the client, for use in completing plans and in writing specifi¬ 
cations. 

Working. Drawings. After the sketches are approved, the work¬ 
ing drawings can be started. They are sometimes called “contract 
drawings,” meaning the scale drawings accompanying the specifi¬ 
cations and contract, though contract drawings really include the de¬ 
tails, which are not generally made at the time the contract is signed. 
The character of these drawings has changed very much, even in the 
last few years, an astonishing amount of detail being put into the work¬ 
ing drawings, while the architectural drawings of the English and 
Italian Renaissance show that the old masters must have studied much 
of their detail while the building was being erected. The main pur¬ 
pose of the working drawings is to give complete information of the 
building to be erected, as far as size and form can be expressed in pro¬ 
jection, quality and general description being left to the specification. 
It is of considerable importance to put on a single drawing as much as 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


57 


can be clearly expressed, since workmen generally are not inclined or 
able to gather information from several different drawings. 

The working drawings are laid out at quarter-inch scale, i.e. 
one-quarter inch equals one foot, with details at a scale of three- 
quarter inch to the foot, accompanied with full-size details. This 
is the customary scale in America. In England and also in some 
American offices, the rule is to make the working drawings at a scale 
of one-eighth inch to the foot, with details at a scale of one-half inch to 
the foot. 

Plans of every floor, including basement and roof, all the ele¬ 
vations, and such sections as may be necessary to explain the con¬ 
struction, are required. In the sections, the vertical dimensions 
should be figured from finished floors. 

Besides these drawings, a block or ground plan is frequently 
given, generally at or inch to the foot, to show adjacent walls, 
gardens, etc., and layout of grounds, location of drains, dry wells, 
cesspool, and water supply. 

Separate plans may be given in procuring estimates for heating, 
ventilating, plumbing, and gas and electric lighting. These should 
be made subject to changes that may be proposed by the successful 
bidder, and, with these changes, should be presented by him to the 
architect for approval before finally going ahead with the work. This 
method is followed, because a guarantee is expected from the contrac¬ 
tor for the successful operation of his work; and each contractor in the 
trades mentioned is likely to have good methods of his own, which he 
should be allowed to use. Sometimes all of these drawings may be 
incorporated in the general drawings. 

Full-Size Details. Mouldings, and special parts of exterior and 
interior flinish, such as base-courses, water-table, belts, cornices, cap¬ 
itals, special arrangement of brickwork, panels, carving, window- 
casings, mantels, stair-newels, balusters, etc., are drawn full size; 
carefully drawn sections are made full size. “Key drawings” at small 
scale, isometrics, and freehand perspectives are invaluable aids if 
drawn on the full size drawings. For cast iron and terra-cotta, allow¬ 
ance is sometimes made for shrinkage. This should preferably be 
left to the pattern-maker. 

♦ Note:— There is agreafc difference between “quarter-inch scale" {i.e., H inch = l 
foot) and “quarter scale, ’* or one-quarter of full size {i.e., 3 inches = 1 foot). 


58 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


Besides the contract drawings and subsequent detail drawings, 
other drawings are frequently called for, for which allowances have 
been made in the contract, as for furniture, special finish, etc. 


-A/SAER]ALk5 ' 

■ JHOW4 ■ ONELEWICNS-Bf- 


•W<^)PmlCK•^TO^K•ME•E^^^HU^K• TC- 



• ON •PLAJSkS • & .SECTlOm hY- 

.BRICK-RUB&LZ'^TDJ^-WQOD-nRE-PR.- -T-C' -JVSEFiL-CONOR- 



Fig. 26 . 


Representation of Materials. This may be either by blacking 
in, hatching, etc., or by use of colors. The former method (Fig. 26) 
is convenient for tracings to be blue-printed, as it saves coloring the 
prints. 

On elevations, materials are shown as follows: 


Wood. 

Brick. 

Stone. 

Metal. 

Shingles.. 

Terra-cotta, etc... 

On plans and sections: 

Brick. 

Rubble. 

Stone. 

Wood. 

Fireproofing .... 

Terra-cotta. 

Metal. 

Concrete. 

Old work. 


white. 

horizontal lines, 
dotted, 
vertical lines. 

.sketched to scale. 

.abbreviations marked “T.C.^’, etc 


diagonal hatching, ruled lines, 
diagonal hatching, wavy lines, 
dotted. 

. grain indicated, or black if small-scale, 
.hatched margin, dotted surface, 
.divisions to suggest material. 

.steel sections suggested, 
cross-hatched. 

.white. 





























































































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


59 


If colors are preferred, the following may be used: 


Brass and copper.yellow. 

t^rick.light red. 

Concrete.Payne’s grey, mottled. 

GLss.new blue. 

Glass in elevations.a graded wash of India ink, indigo, new 

blue with a little carmine. 

Old work.grey or black. 

Plaster.Payne’s grey. 

Sections.construction not determined, pink with 

red border line. 

Shadow in elevation.... India ink with indigo or gallstone. 

Slate.indigo. ^ 

Steel and iron.Prussian blue. 

Stone.raw umber or new blue, or Payne’s grey. 

Terra-cotta.burnt umber. 

Tiling.light red with yellow. 

Wood.yellow ochre. 


Coloring may be carried further, following this scheme, always 
placing guide-squares in one corner of the drawing with the names 
of the materials represented. 

Tracing and Blue-Printing. Drawings of which several copies 
are needed, may be traced on transparent paper or linen, or laid out 
directly on these materials. Thin bond paper is often used. Prints 
may be taken from these, either blue or brown prints, giving white 
lines on a blue or brown ground, or by first taking negatives, dark 
lines on a white ground. 

Notes should be kept for the specifications while drawings are 
being made. 

Letting the Contract. When the working drawings and specifica¬ 
tions are finished, owner and architect decide on three or four builders, 
any one of whom would be satisfactory, who are asked to submit es¬ 
timates. The builders are allowed time enough to go over the plans 
and specifications carefully so that they may know the actual value of 
the work; and bids are sent in to the architect’s office to be opened 
on a certain day, when the owner meets the successful bidder and a 
contract is signed for building the house. 

In France there is generally a separate contractor for each kind 
of work; in England a general contractor makes up his bid from quan¬ 
tities given him by a quantity-surveyor; in America usually the sub¬ 
bids are given to a general contractor who takes the responsibility.for 
the whole work. 
















GO 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


The work generally starts immediately on the signing of the con¬ 
tract, and is carried on continuously, with visits from the owner and 
from the architect, payments being made at regular intervals or on 
completion of certain parts of the work. 

During the progress of building, the owner and architect select 
fixtures, wall papers, etc. 

BUILDINGS FOR OFFICES 

The plan must be laid out so as to obtain the largest possible 
amount of space available; it must be made with reference to the con¬ 
structive requirements. 

Arrange the offices so as to take advantage of surroundings and 
light. A good outlook makes an office more desirable. 

Staircases, eUv^ators, piers, etc., should be arranged so that the 
actual renting space will be an open loft, where offices and windows 
can be divided up easily to suit different tenants, and can be easily 
changed. 

Make the street entrance and corridors so that the offices can be 
easily reached and doors and signs easily seen. The corridors should 
not be less than 3 feet 8 inches wide; as a general rule, they should be 
4 feet to 8 feet wide, depending upon the use, the number of offices 
and the size of the building. 

Arrange janitor’s and superintendent’s offices, telephone, tele¬ 
graph, news booths, and elevators so that the tenants and public may 
be quickly accommodated. 

As a rule, unless there are two frequently used entrances, the 
elevators should be placed so that they can all be seen by a person 
entering the building. 

A car 5 feet 3 inches by 6 feet, with a door on the long side anc 
the rest of the side removable, is convenient for handling ordinary 
office furniture. One elevator in the building should be as large as 

this. Other elevators may be smaller. 

«/ 

If a building is more than 6 stories high, it is advisable to have 
one or more elevators express to the 6th story. The doors at the 
lowest floor, where the largest number of passengers pass in and out, 
and where there is generally a “starter” to see that the cars are not 
overcrowded, may be arranged so that the whole side of the car will 
open, allowing all the passengers in the elevator to pass out at once. 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


61 


Staircases are rarely used in an office building. A width of 3 
feet 3 inches is generally sufficient; and sometimes staircases are as 
small as 2 feet 9 inches. 

If there is a light court, it should be of such shape and location 
as to receive as much sun as possible. 

There should be toilet rooms on every floor; generally lavatories 
are placed in the separate offices. Radiators are put in front of each 
window, transoms over every door; the lighting is done by electricity 
with drop-lights and receptacles for desk-lights. 

Write the specifications so that the building may be economically 
constructed and will be a paying investment, and yet not so cheaply 
built that it will be unattractive or constantly needing repairs. 

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE: A COLONIAL HOUSE 

Conditions. A business man, having purchased a lot sufficiently 
large to give him space on all sides, wishes to build a colonial house 
containing nine rooms. 

On the first floor, a hall is to be in the center, with vestibule and 
porch in front and doorway at the rear, so that the air may circulate 
freely in the summer time. The hall is to be about 15 feet wide. At 
the front, on the left, opening off this hall, the owner wishes to have a 
large room about 14 feet by 25 feet. The parlor and dining room are 
to be about 14 feet by 12 feet each. On the right of the hall, next to 
the dining room, is to be a china closet, with shelves and drawers, 
connecting with the kitchen. Beyond the kitchen is to be a pantry, 
with shelves, cupboards, and cases of drawers. The back entry is 
to have a place for a refrigerator. The rear door of the front hall is 
to open on an ample porch, where the family may sit. 

The second floor is to have four bedrooms and an alcove in the 
main part of the house, a convenient bathroom and bedroom in the 
rear, and suitable linen closets. There are to be a front stairway and 
a compact back stairway. The attic is to be arranged for sleeping 
rooms. 

Sketches. The drawings first to be made are sketches at a scale 
of one-eighth inch to the foot, drawn on AVhatman’s paper, with the 
plans inked in and the walls shown black. The elevations may be 
sketched in pencil, merely the front and left-side elevations being 
shown. 


62 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


Figs. 28 to 4P show complete working plans of a house fulfilling 
these conditions—a three-storied frame residence, such as is frequently 
constructed in our suburban country towns and smaller cities. The 
drawings include tlie basement, first floor, second floor, attic, and roof 
plans, front elevation, and one side elevation, corresponding framing 
plans, and details of different parts of the house. Details are not 
always included in the contract drawings, but are made as the work 
progresses. The rear elevation and one side elevation have been 
omitted, as they are of the same character as those shown. These 
plans are usually drawn at the scale of one-quarter inch to the foot; 
in the illustrations, they are reduced. 

Plans. On commencing the quarter-scale, the principal dimen¬ 
sions should be given in feet and inches, not in fractions of an inch, 
to the outside line of the sill. The main contour lines should be mark¬ 
ed first, and then the wall should be shown on the first floor, six inches 
thick. The sill line is shown on Fig. 29, one inch inside of the 
outer wall line, and is merely drawn in a little way at the corner of 
the building. In drawing out the plans in pencil, the lines may be run 
straight through, taking no notice of openings. The lines that run 
over can easily be erased later. In commencing to lay out the 
plan, it is well to draw the center lines or axes first, as all the sym¬ 
metrical points of the building will be laid out from these axes. Doors 
and windows either center on an axis, or, as a rule, are equidistant. 
The bay windows and chimneys are also located if possible on the 
axis lines. The door and window openings in the exterior walls are 
not located in plan until the elevations are laid out. When this 
is done, the sizes of window designed on the elevation can be 
transfei’red to the plan. As mentioned previously, in working over 
the plans, notes should be made for the specifications and marked 
on the plans; for example— g. p. (glass panel); c.w. (casement win¬ 
dow); 1.1. (top light or transom light). 

Elevations. In laying out the front elevation, the center line 
should be sketched in sharply, in pencil; and the location of the sill 
line should be marked at the right and left of this center line. Then 
the outside finished building line should be drawn one inch outside 
the sill line, this being the outside of the boarding. 

Useful Memoranda. In laying out plans at one-quarter of an 
inch to the foot, the beginner is often puzzled to know the simplest way 



PLAA DETAILJ 


OL 

POl/bLf, HUNQ WINPOW.reAMZ 5U1LPIN& 

I ^ /'outjide wall Unt 



a;ter Unc. 

P0U5LE HUNG WNPOW, BK.1CK WALL 




FLUE/ VITH FLUE LINING E>ATH ROOM 



d> 1 

c/cdwle of 111 l I 














KITCHEN DREJ/ER 
a 3 «4- a 

I 1 _1_I f&oX 


Fig 27. 






























































































































































































G4 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


to show ordinary constructive forms; and in tracing plans, which a 
beginner is likely to be called upon to do, if the original is not very 
distinct, he will find it useful to have some guide for convenient 
reference—as, for example, that shown in Fig. 27. The lines in the 
drawing (a) of double-hung windows can all be laid to scale, though 
very simply expressed. The sill is shown, both outside and inside; 
and also the sash opening and glass opening. In a brick building, 
the brickwork and wood furring are shown (6). The distinction 
between single-sash (c) and double-hung windows (d) will be found 
convenient. The distinction between a casement window (/) and a 
French window (e) is not shown in plan, as the difference lies prin¬ 
cipally in the fact that the French window is carried to the floor. The 
casement window, on the other hand, is, in general, slightly different 
in having a mullion in the center for each sash to strike on. The 
French window is shown opening out, and the casement window 
opening in; but these could be made to open either way, and the 
casement window could be built singly, or in pairs, or in series. 

In placing a fireplace (g) on the outside wall, an air space 
should always be left to prevent unnecessary cooling of the flues. The 
finished brick fireplace should be distinguished from the rough 
chimney; and, where necessary, flue linings should be shown. A 
space should be shown separating the furring from the brickwork at 
least one inch, as prescribed in all good building laws. This applies 
also to fireplaces on inside walls. The hearth is shown, either the 
width of the finished fireplace, or sometimes the width of the chimney- 
breast, and projecting 16, 18, 20 inches, or more into the room. 

If the kitchen range is to be brick-set, a similar hearth and chim¬ 
ney-breast must be built (i ); and in all cases it is advisable to have 
the kitchen duct circular (h), set in a rectangular flue which it keeps 
warm and which is available for ventilating the kitchen through a 
register set near the kitchen ceiling. The kitchen sink (j) should 
always be shown with drip-board. A kitchen or pantry dresser (k) 
should be shown with doors opening out—not sliding, unless the 
space is very limited. Laundry tubs (/) should be shown as indi¬ 
cated in the drawing. A bath-tub is indicated as shown (m), and 
other toilet fixtures are indicated similarly. Single (n) and double (o) 
sliding doors (inside), single doors (p) and double swing doors (q) 
are indicated as shown. 



Fig. 28< 
































































































































































































































66 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


Basement Plan. Fig. 28 shows the basement plan of the resi¬ 
dence. Dimensions are all given to the outside of the underpinning 
rubble wall, which in this case is 2 inches outside the sill line, as shown 
in the half-inch scale section. The footings of piazza piers at the 
front of the house are shown dotted. On the left side of the piazza 
is lattice-work covering the opening into the cold-air box for the fur¬ 
nace. The underpinning is of stone 20 inches thick; and the piazza 
piers are 12 inches square, built of bricks. The posts holding the 
girders are usually made of iron, three-quarter-inch metal, three and 
one-half inches in diameter. Sometimes these posts are made of iron 
about one-quarter inch thick, filled with concrete, the cost being about 
the same as that of brick piers, with the advantage of taking up less 
space than the latter in the cellar. The footings of the chimneys are 
not shown; the ash-pit under the chimney has an iron door for cleaning; 
and the coal-bins are made with slides, and located conveniently near 
the furnace and not too far from the kitchen stairs, with the partition 
so placed that coal can be thrown from the window into either bin. 
A storeroom is built with shelves, convenient to the cellar stairs. A 
laundry, with set tubs, is placed in the best lighted part of the cellar. 
A very desirable item frequently overlooked in planning, is to allow 
a space at the right-hand end of the laundry tubs for the clothes-basket. 
The laundry should also have a chimney near the laundry stove. 
There are also a basement toilet-room and an outside hatchway or 
rollway. The windows, as a rule, should be located under the win¬ 
dows in the upper story; and as the basement plan is frequently used 
on the work separately from the other plans, all dimensions should be 
given, so that no reference to the other plans will be necessary. The 
window openings may be figured to centers, but they are sometimes 
figured to the brick or stone opening. The heater, or hot-air furnace, 
is placed near the center of the cellar. The cold-air box should be 
arranged so as to take air from the side least affected by the changing 
winds (south or east). In the case here illustrated, it has been lo¬ 
cated under the front porch. 

First-Floor Plan. This, the most important of all the working 
drawings (Fig. 29), shows at a glance the main proportions and dimen¬ 
sions of the whole building, besides being the plan of what, in our 
American manner of living, is the principal story of the house. 

This house would be located to the best advantage on a lot facing 






























































































































































































































































































68 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


the south or southeast. This would put the kitchen on the north, 
the dining room on the east (which would give it the desirable mornng 
sun), and the parlor on the south and west. 

The front porch sheltering the front doorway, and the vestibule 
and second door, form a protection necessary in cold northern climates. 
The hall and staircase in the center of the house open into the principal 
rooms. The living room on the left, 14 by 25 feet, opens by French 
windows on the piazza. The parlor to the right connects by sliding 
doors with the dining room. The living room and dining room both 
have open fireplaces. 

From the rear of the hall a door opens on the rear porch, and 
another door leads to the passage connecting with the kitchen and the 
back stairs. Between the dining room and the Idtchen is a large china 
closet, having glazed shelving and also a counter shelf on which is 
dotted the location for a china-closet sink—^which, shown in this way, 
would not be considered a part of a contract, but could be put in later. 
From the kitchen a staircase leads down to the basement. The 
kitchen has windows on both sides, giving a cross-draft for ventilation, 
which is very agreeable in summer. 

In the rear of the kitchen is a pantry, with cupboards, drawers, 
and shelving. The large back entry is planned for a refrigerator, 
which has an ice door on the rear, to be put in according to the direc¬ 
tions furnished by the refrigerator maker. 

This plan should be laid out like all the others, from a center axis, 
the dimensions being figured to outside of studs for outside walls, and 
to the center of partitions for inside walls, and to the centers of the 
window openings. 

The sill line is | inch inside the outside line of the walls shown, 
while the inner line representing the plaster surface is 4f or 4f inches 
inside the sill line. The dimensions being given in this way, it is a 
simple matter for the carpenter on the building to run his measuring 
stick between the outside studding and against the outside boarding, 
and to measure across, thus locating the center of an interior partition 
or the center of one of the windows. The location of gas and electric 
fixtures is shown by circles on the plans. 

Second-Floor Plan. This is shown in Fig. 30. Only those 
, dimensions are given on these plans which are not indicated on the 
first floor, as all second-floor partitions are supposed to rest on the 



ora343e7a^ 

■^O'cdwte oj I I I I _1_I_I_I_I—I 


Fig. 30. 












































































































































































































































































'•PLAN- OF'-THlRD-rLOOR.-cS-ROOF*' 

^ o 1 a 3 -^-vS <o7 & 

-‘'Jbfe.lc. 0 /Li.U.L.Li 1 I l.J f&iX*- 


Piff 3L 






























































































































































































































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


71 


partitions below, if possible. The roofs of the porch and piazza are 
shown. These may be covered with painted canvas or with tin, and, 
if they are to be much used, should be provided also with a floor of 
wood slats. The staircase and hall are shown with an alcove opening 
toward the front, lighted from the window over the front porch. This 
alcove is separated from the hall by an arch resting on small col¬ 
umns, making an attractive sitting room. There are doors from it 
into the adjacent bedrooms. Instead of the arched opening, a parti¬ 
tion may be put in, making a convenient dressing room. The bed¬ 
rooms are 11 by 14 feet, and are provided with closets. 

One bedroom has a fireplace, and the two bedrooms on the left of 
the house have access to a chimney. There is a small linen closet, 
provided with wide shelves, opening out of the hall. Sometimes the 
lower part of this closet is provided with drawers, and the upper part 
with wide lockers having drop fronts. The opening between the front 
hall and the rear hall can be closed with a door, if desired; or the door 
can be placed opposite the partition between the bathroom and the 
rear bedroom. The bathroom comes directly over the butler’s pantry, 
so that the plumbing is all very compactly arranged. The staircase 
to the attic goes up over the back stairs that lead down to the kitchen. 
The rear bedroom, which could be used as a servants’ room, is pro¬ 
vided with a large closet. A large linen closet, with shelves and 
drawers, opens into the rear hall. 

Attic and Roof Plan. The attic, as shown in Fig. 31, is left un¬ 
finished, with the exception of the hall at the top of the back stairs. 
The location of the tank is shown near a chimney, and a small closet 
opens off the hall. The roof lines are shown by dot-and-dash lines, 
which are frequently drawn in red on the working drawings. The 
frame line {i. e., the line of the outside of the sill and the studding)— 
which should appear on all the working drawings—is shown here in 
full, with all dimensions noted thereon. 

Front and Side Elevations. As shown in Figs. 32 and 33, the 
character of the house is “Colonial,” of about the period of the be¬ 
ginning of the nineteenth century. The treatment is very simple and 
the details should be worked out delicately to obtain the Colonial 
character. The construction is comparatively simple, the base being 
of brick, sometimes with a granite course at grade, and sometimes the 
whole underpinning being of split granite. The wall is covered with 


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ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


75 


clapboards, with cypress or pine finisli. The roof is covered with 
shingles. The location of the floors is shown by a dot-and-dash line, 
which in working drawings is frequently put in in red ink. The 
height of the floors is 9 feet for the first story, 8 feet G inches for the 
second story, with an attic 8 feet in the clear. The cellar is to be 8 
feet high in the clear. 

Detail of Front Elevation. Fig. 34, showing detail of the front 
elevation, is reduced from a drawing made at a scale of one-half inch 
to the foot. This is sufficiently large to show very clearly to the work¬ 
men the relation and character of the mouldings^ which must, of 
course, be worked out at full size. The cornice and the front entrance 
are here shown, the cornice consisting of the Roman Doric Order, as 
treated in the Colonial period, the column having a modified Attic 
base, and a shaft with the customary entasis. This entasis or swelling 
of the column extends one-third of its height without diminution, and 
tapers slightly until it comes to the necking. The cap is very simple, 
consisting of astragal, necking, fillet, and echinus, all turned; a square 
abacus, consisting of a fascia, ogee, and fillet. The architrave con¬ 
sists of a fascia, small bead, another fascia, ogee, and fillet. The 
frieze in this type of building is usually plain; and the cornice, which 
may be gieatly varied, consists, in this case, of a great quarter-hollow, 
fillet, quarter-round, fascia with brackets, and a corona consisting of 
fascia, fillet, and cyma. Between the columns is a balustrade with 
turned balusters. The cornice is surmounted by another balustrade 
with posts, top and bottom rail, and turned balusters. The doorway 
is worked out in old Colonial style, with paneling peculiar to that pe¬ 
riod. The sash may be made either according to the design shown, 
in wood, or with wide leads, which may be painted white. Windows 
are shown with outside casing and back band; and the center window 
has a small cap to accent the central portion of the house. The water- 
table is formed to take up the slight projections of the brick underpin¬ 
ning beyond the outside boarding. It consists of a wide fascia, an 
astragal, and a splayed member. The corner is paneled, as shown. 
Sometimes a plain corner-board is employed, and at other times it is 
made larger and finished with a Classic capital and base. The cornice 
of the house is similar to the cornice of the porch, the frieze and archi¬ 
trave being omitted, as is quite customary on Colonial houses, al¬ 
though there are examples of Colonial houses where the complete en- 





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ARCHITECTURAT. DRAWING 


77 


tablature is used. The dormer shows a peculiar Colonial treatment, 
using a small Doric Order on each side of the arched window. The 
muntins of the sash are generally worked out in wood. At the side of 
the roof is shown a side elevation of the dormer. 

First-Floor Framing Plan. (Fig. 35.) The supports shown with 
a dot-and-dash line would usually be shown in red ink in the working 
drawings. The sill, 6 by 8 inches, laid flat, is shown with a full line 
running all around the building. The girders and the posts on which 
they rest are shown in a full line, the girders being 8 inches by 10 inches, 
and the posts not over 10 feet apart. The piazza girders are 4 by 6, 
and the piazza sills are 4 by 6. The piazza floor joists are 2 by 8 inches, 
20 inches on center. The dimensions are given to the outside of the 
sill, and to the centers of the partitions. Where the partitions come 
over each other and are parallel to the joists, a joist is set 1 inch each 
side of the studs of the partition, so that the rough floor boards may 
run directly through and leave room for nailing for the finished floor 
each side of the partitions. Trimmers and headers are double the 
size of their respective floor joists, being 4 by 10 inches in this case. 
All joists are set 2 inches clear of the fireplace openings. The dis¬ 
tances are given to the centers of the trimmers, but sometimes dimen¬ 
sions are given for the clear opening. All the first-floor joists are to be 
2 by 10, placed 16 inches on centers. The bridging is shown dotted. 
This is made of 1 by 2j-inch stock set diagonally between the joists. 

It will be noticed that all the 2-inch joists except those in special 
locations—for example, under a partition, as above mentioned—are 
shown with only a single line, all other timbers being shown with a 
double line. 

Second-Floor Framing Plan. The second-floor framing plan 
(Fig. 36) is similar to the first-floor, the girts, 4 by 6 inches, being 
shown instead of the sill. The framing of the roofs of the porches is 
shown, and notes are made where the girts are flush or where they are 
sunk. In certain cases it will be noticed that the joists are carried 
through, continuous. It often happens that shorter stock might have 
been used at no disadvantage to the building. The joists across the 
building should be nailed together wherever possible, so as to make a 
complete tie across the building. 

Attic Framing Plan. On this drawing (Fig. 37), the roof plate 
is shown, and also the location of the hard pine ledger-board. The 


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ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


83 


partition caps of the story below, on which the joists rest, are shown. 
The joists in the attic floor are 2 by 8, placed 16 inches on centers. 

Roof Framing Plan. The rafters and hips are shown (Fig. 38) 
2 by 10; the valley rafters, 3 by 9; the ridge, 2 by 8 inches. The rafters 
either side of the dormer openings are 4 by 7, and the headers for the 
dormers are also 4 by 7 inches. All the other main rafters are 2 by 7 
inches, placed 20 inches on centers; and the dormer rafters, 2 by 6, 
placed 20 inches on centers. The plate line, which is the same as the 
first-floor sill line, is shown as a full line, and the dimensions are given 
from this line. 

Framing of Front Elevation. The framing of the front elevation 
of the house above the foundation is shown in Fig. 39. The sill is 
6 by 8, resting on its 8-inch face. The corner posts are 4 by 6, framed 
into the sill; and a 4 by 6 flush girt is shown running around the house. 
It will be noticed that the girt stops on the side elevations where it is 
marked “4 by 6 sunk girt’’ (Fig. 40). The plate is formed of 2 by 4 
joists, which break joints all around the building. The frame is 
braced by 3 by 4 studs, these braces being as long as possible, which 
is considered better construction than the former short-brace system. 
In cheaper work, 2 by 4 braces, halved into the studding, are sometimes 
used in the same position. The filling-in studs are 2 by 4, set 16 
inches on centers. The door and window studs are 3 by 4 inches, set 
5 inches clear of the sash opening. 

The dimensions are given to the centers of the openings. The 
heights are generally given to the finished floor, which would be 2 
inches above the joist line. The large openings are trussed, as shown 
over the front door opening. The rafters are 2 by 7, set 20 inches on 
centers, the hips being 2 by 10, and the valley rafters 3 by 4. The 
dormers are built up of 4 by 4 corner posts and 4 by 7 rafters each side 
of the opening. .The ridge is 2 by 8, the distance to the top of ridge 
being given above the top of the plate, and all the points on the ridge 
rafters and ridge may be located on the sill line to the junction of the 
hip. 

Framing of Side Elevation. The sill, girts, corner posts, stud¬ 
ding, plate, and rafters (Fig. 40), are similar to those already described 
on the front elevation. The framing of the front and rear porches is 
also shown, with the dimensions given similarly. The attic floor joists 



Fig. 41. 
















































































































































































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ARCIIITECITJRAL DRAWING 


8? 


are supported on a 1 by 6 hard pine ledger-board, which is cut into 
the studding after the manner of balloon framing. 

Main Cornice and Dormer. Fig. 41 is reduced from a drawing 
made at a scale of three-fourths inch to the foot. This plate should be 
drawn out at the original scale mentioned; and a full-size pencil 
study should be made for comparison. 

Kitchen, Pantry, and China Closet. Fig. 42 shows the details 
of kitchen, pantry, and china closet reduced from a drawing made at 
a scale of one-half inch to the foot, and larger details at a scale of one 
and one-half inches to the foot, showing shelving, lockers, and doors. 
These are all included in the interior finish, and should follow the 
specifications as to sizes. The mouldings should all be full-size. 

Plumbing. Fig. 43 shows the plumbing details for this building. 
These details are carried somewhat further than is usually done on 
plans, but no further than advisable, as they will be found of great 
assistance in carrying out and superintending the work. The base¬ 
ment plan shows the direction of the sewer connection, which is a hori¬ 
zontal pipe, six inches in diameter, of cast iron, located either on the 
basement ceiling or in a trench on the cellar floor. In this case it must 
be below the cellar-floor 
level in order to take the 
laundry tubs. The sec¬ 
tion shows the elevations 
of the pipe carried up 
through the house. 

There will be a trap between the point shown and the sewer, just out¬ 
side the wall of the house. The leader connections are 4-inch cast-iron 
pipe inside the house in cellar floor, and 4-inch terra-cotta outside the 
house, to take the water from the gutters and conductors. On the 
first connection there is a cleanout, and the size of the pipe is reduced 
from 6 inches to 4 inches. There should be cleanouts at every bend, 
and also at about every fifteen feet of horizontal run. There should 
be a bell trap (Fig. 44) to take the cellar surface water, also branches 
for general fixtures through the house, as shown. The vertical pipe 
of 4-inch cast iron would rest on a brick pier at the bottom built by the 

mason. 

The vent pipes from the trap of every fixture are shown in dotted 
lines, and are carried up beyond the highest fixture, where they may be 







Fig. 45. 



































































































































ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


89 


carried back into the soil pipe or through the roof. Branches are 
taken off for the laundry tubs, china closet, sink, lavatory, tub, and 
closet, as shown in the section and on the first and second-floor plumb- 
ing plans. Sometimes these pipes are shown in blue on the regular 
working drawings; but there is an advantage in having them on a sep¬ 
arate sheet, as has been done in this detail. The vent pipes from the 
traps may be of 2-inch cast iron or of 2-inch galvanized wrought iron. 
This practice varies with the building laws in different localities. 

Detail of General Window Frames. Fig. 45 shows the method of 
laying out a full-size detail of a window box. Such a drawing is one 
of the first things usually given to a draftsman on entering an archi¬ 
tect's office, and one of the most important details of house building 
to become acquainted with. The drawing shows an elevation of the 
lower left-hand corner and upper left-hand corner of the window- 
frames seen from the outside. The lower part of the drawing shows 
a section through the window sill. Taking the scale of 6 inches shown 
at the top of the drawing, it would be found that the window sill can 
be made from 2-inch stock finished about one and three-quarters 
inches thick. On the outside, next to the clapboards, is a bed-mould¬ 
ing, and the slope of the sill forms a good drip to throw off water. The 
clapboards are housed into the under side of the sill. The sill rests on 
a 3 by 4 or 4 by 4 horizontal stud under the window opening. The 
inner side of the sill is cut to come on a line with the finished plaster. 
The plaster stop or gi*ound, which is either three-quarters or seven- 
eighths inch thick, according to the proposed thickness of the plaster, 
is nailed on to the 3 by 4 stud. The space between the stud and the 
sill is frequently filled with mortar. At the left of the drawing is shown 
a section through the side of the window box. 

The outside architrave is arranged on the outside of the boarding; 
and a back band, or moulded strip, forms a finish around the outside 
edge. The layers of paper are generally run on the boarding under 
this outside architrave; and sometimes zinc flashing is used in very 
exposed positions, being turned up against the outside architrave. 
The small three-quarter round bead shown in the drawing may be 
omitted. The 3 by 4 stud is set so as to leave space for the weights. 
It is a good rule to remember that the distance from the stud to the 
glass opening is 5 inches, and the distance from the sill stud the same. 
The distance from stud at window head to glass opening is 4 inches. 


90 


AiiCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


The pulley stile is of hard pine; and the parting strip, or stop-bead 
between the two sashes, is also hard pine. Between the outside archi¬ 
trave and the sash is put in a small screen strip, to give space enough 
for a mosquito screen between blinds and sash. On the inside of the 
sash is a stop-bead, which forms a part of the interior finish and covers 
the rough part of the window frame. 

The upper part of the drawing shows a section through the win¬ 
dow head. Sometimes the window frame head is made of thinner 
stock than that shown. This completes the rough window box as it is 
shipped from the sash factory to the building. At the building, it is 
nailed in place against the rough boarding; and later the sash, which 
come a little too large for their position, are fitted into place. Sections 
horizontally and vertically are shown through the sash, including meet¬ 
ing rail andmuntins. The sash at the sill is wider than elsewhere, and 
underneath is usually beveled where it comes against the finished win¬ 
dow stool, so that it will shut tight. There is also usually a groove 
underneath, to intercept any water that may blow in. The meeting- 
rail may be made on the outside sash, to drop below the meeting-rail 
on the inside sash, forming a drip which will prevent the water washing 
down on the glass of the lower sash. 

The inside finish is frequently included on the general interior- 
finish drawings of the building, and is not always sent out with the 
window-frame details. The window stool is shown on the drawing, 
with a small space underneath where it comes against the sash, which 
forms a slight interruption for any water that may pass the other 
groove. The apron is nailed onto the sill and plaster stop; and a 
moulding is generally run under the window stool where it joins the 
apron. A back band may be laid around the inside architrave, against 
the plastering; or the inside architrave may be all one piece. 

Fig. 46shows several variations from the details of window frames 
illustrated in Fig. 45; and these can be still further varied if de¬ 
sired; or a combination of the parts may be made, taking certain de¬ 
tails from each detail given. 

The frames, unless otherwise shown, are usually made of white 
pine. Pulley stiles and parting beads are made of hard pine. 

The pulley stiles are seven-eighths inch thick, tongued into the 
outside casings, as shown in the section through the side of the window 
box. The parting or stop beads are seven-eighths by one-half inch in 


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Fig. 46. 










































































































































92 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


size; sometimes they are made seven-eighths by three-eighths inch, 
the lattei' giving more room for the screen strip. 

When two-coat work is specified for plaster, the plaster stops are 
generally three-quarters inch thick; when three-coat work is used, 
generally seven-eighths inch thick. Very often the window box is 
completed by ground-casing either three-quarters or seven-eighths 
inch thick, as shown in Fig. 47; in this case no ground or plaster stops 
are necessary around the window frames. The yoke or window-frame 

head is generally made 
one and three-eighths or 
one and one-half inches 
thick. The sills are set 
to pitch one and one-half 
inches. Care must be 
taken to see that the 
blinds are made suffi¬ 
ciently long to fit, as 
stock frames are fre¬ 
quently made with a 
slope of not over one- 
half inch in four inches. 
The outside casing—or 
outside architrave, as it 
is sometimes called—may be set either fiush with the boarding or out¬ 
side the boarding. When it is set flush with the boarding, the shingles 
may be carried directly across the joint, and finished against a back 
band, which comes around the outside of the window frame. The 
outside casing is generally seven-eighths inch thick, and five inches or 
sometimes four and one-half inches in width. In certain cases it is 
made of one and one-eighth inch stock, when it is to be set outside the 
boarding. Sometimes, instead of-the back-band shown, an architrave 
made from one and one-eighth to one and three-quarter inch stock is 
planted on the outside casing. This would show the distinction be¬ 
tween the outside casing and the outside architrave. The method of 
using a ground casing and outside casing flush with the boarding is 
inexpensive, and therefore in quite common use. It does not give suffi¬ 
cient room for a screen strip, and does not make a very tight casing 
where the pulley stile connects with the sill. 
































Fig. 4^ 














































































































































































































































































'DEIAlliJ'-OF- TRin^OM-FlBlT- FLOOR 


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ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


95 


The sash are usually made one and three-quarters inches thick, 
for house construction; sometimes, in less expensive work, they are 
made one and one-half inches thick, and, for cheap cellar windows, 
one and one-quarter inches thick. For plate glass they should not be 
less than one and three-quarter inches thick; and for important work, 
they are usually two and one-quarter inches thick. Frames may be 
veneered on the inside, to match the other interior finish. 

Porch and Front Entrance. For detail of these, see Fig. 48. 

Trim on First Floor. For detail, see Fig. 49. 

Uniform Titles for Drawings. Fig. 50 shows a scheme for a uni¬ 
form title to be use on working drawings. This may be made as a rub¬ 
ber stamp, the name of the drawing being lettered in, the name of the 


•DRAV/N* 

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Fig. 50. 


building being set up in rubber type, and the remainder being perma¬ 
nent. This stamp should be put on the drawing whenever it is started, 
a rubber dating stamp being used to give the date of beginning; the 
building number and sheet number should be recorded in the drawing 
book. The architect or draftsman who lays out the drawing puts his 
• initials under the wor3 “Drawn;” the draftsman who finishes it puts 
his initials under tHe word “Traced;” another puts his initials under the 
word “Checked,” with the date; and finally the architect adds his ini¬ 
tials and date after the drawings are ready to go out of the office. On 
the lower right-hand corner is a space where date of any revision may 
be entered. This stamp may be made four and seven-eighths inches 
long, so that it can be used on a 3 by 5 index card, for the drawing 
record; and also on a postal card, for a receipt to be signed by the con- 















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ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


97 


tractor on receiving the drawing, or for any other memoranda in re¬ 
gard to drawings. 

Staircase and Fireplace Details. One of the best ways to prepare 
for the designing of buildings is to study and make memoranda of 
interesting plans and details. This is especially true in relation to 
house building, as well as to the planning of large buildings. Some 
of the most interesting sketch books are those filled with small-plan 
details which can be referred to and used in the same manner as win¬ 
dow or door details could be used in designing elevations. Fig. 51 
shows several such small drawings on one sheet. 

Fig. A shows the usual way of working out a back staircase entirely 
enclosed between partitions, one staircase going down under the other. 
This is very compact, and may be worked out in wood or iron and be¬ 
tween plaster or brick walls. The space may be larger or smaller 
than that shown. The width of stairs from the finished wall to center 
of rail should never be less than 2 feet 2 inches for the smallest stair¬ 
case, and usually 2 feet 8 inches is employed for a back staircase. 
Sometimes the newel posts are brought together as one, making what 
is practically a circular staircase. 

Fig. B shows a combination staircase; that is to say, the front 
staircase goes up to a landing, and then continues in any direction to 
the second floor. From this landing a door opens, leading down to 
the service part of the house, giving many of the advantages of a back 
staircase, with loss of only a small amount of space. 

Fig. C gives an interesting combination of staircase and fireplace. 
The fireplace is one step below the general floor level; and the ceiling 
is kept lower than the general ceiling of the room, with a small stair¬ 
case leading up to a mezzanine story, above the fireplace, which may 
be arranged to look down on the main floor of the room or may form a 
sort of gallery. 

Fig. D shows a staircase going up to a landing which is carried 
out into a room as a balcony indicated by dotted lines. At this 
level a little bay window is carried out over an outside doorway below. 
As there are only eleven risers shown, it would be necessary in this case 
to have the landing made of plank laid flat, to get head room for the 
seat. 

Fig. E shows a compact arrangement of hall, coat closet, and out- 




PLAN At CASE 

bill OF INDIANA LIMLSTONe-^CjENESEE VALLLY TR^T COS bVlLDIN^ 

Fig. 52. 




























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Fig. 53. 














































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































'\.TOf e» ^ 

TH1^E,*Q(JAK.TE.R’»3CALE,'DI!,TA1L^0F'CUT "OTONE’VYORK* 
CENTEAL PAVIUON • EA3TEEN • PAEKWW- MWON • 
CEODKLYN-iNOTlTUTE- k!kim-«ud—- wran -Aiom- 


ORAWniQ ftp ii3 

^'^ ^gYVtnup 


Fig. 54 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































• THE‘KNICK£RBOaCEB • TRV.ST-COMPANY- 


‘OX. 34W5T 9 

•M»KIM JEAPWHrre'AKHTBrrs- •N»l«)PrnHA\C-N£WVXJCCfTY' 

wnw . T«JT F\-rVVf. 


Fig. 55 



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































102 


ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING 


side vestibule, with an interesting arrangement of the ingle-nook and 
fireplace, and seats each side. 

Fig. F shows another arrangement of circular staircase differing 
from that shown in Fig. A, as it contains space for a service elevator 
or lift. 

Fig. G shows a scissors staircase, which is sometimes used in 
double houses occupied by different families on each floor. This con¬ 
struction makes a saving of space, as the staircases may be placed un¬ 
der each other, while each family is able to go from floor to floor by its 
own private staircase. This arrangement is also sometimes used in 
schoolhouses, where there is height enough to have mezzanine toilet 
rooms at the landings, with separate stairways for boys and girls in the 
same given space on plan. 

Fig. H shows an arrangement for the fireplace between dining 
room and living room where space is desired for closets or serving room 
between. On one side is built the ordinary fireplace with seats on 
each side, the tiling being carried out to the end of the seats; on the 
other side the hearth is carried out with brick floor, and the hood is 
carried out over this so that a basket of cpals can be set directly on the 
brick floor. Sometimes the fire-basket is placed below the floor level, 
so that the surface comes about on a level with the floor. 

Figs. 52 to 55 show working drawings of prominent architectural 
firms. It should be noted how carefully and clearly everything is 
drawn—from the lettering to the sculptured parts. 

The preliminaries to starting a drawing, are: 

Stretch half a sheet of Whatman’s Imperial cold-pressed paper, 
22 by 15 inches in size. TOiile this is drying, sketch out rapidly with 
pencil, T-square, and triangles, on a piece of manila detail paper, the 
main lines of the proposed drawing. This will show the proper pla¬ 
cing of the drawing, and save much erasing on the final sheet. 

Sometimes tracing paper may be mounted over the Whatman’s 
paper, and a place cut for making the final drawing; or the study may 
be made directly on the tracing paper over the final sheet, and then 
cut out and redrawn or transferred. 

The paper required for the first drawing is, therefore: 

One sheet Whcijtman’s ^‘Imperial” drawing paper; 

One yard manila detail paper. 

Several yards of Rowney’s English tracing paper. 





A CKNOWLEDGMENT SHOULD BE MADE TO 
THE SEVERAL ARCHITECTS, DESIGNERS 
AND PUBLISHERS WHO HAV^E ALLOWED 
THEIR DRAWINGS TO BE REPRODUCED IN 
THE SECTION ON ARCHITECTURAL LETTER- 
ING, AND TO THE BATES & GUILD CO., OP 
BOSTON, FOR PERMISSION TO INCLUDE THE 
VARIOUS PLATES FROM “ LETTERS AND LET¬ 
TERING,” A LARGER TREATISE BY PRANK 
CHOUTEAU BROWN. 




RUBBING OF INCISED SLATE LETTERING FROM HEAD STONE IN KING’S CHAPEL BURYING 

GROUND. BOSTON. 1773. 






PART II 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING. 


Architectural lettering be divided into two general 

classes. The first is for titling and naming drawings, as well as 
for such notcL and explanations as it is usual or necessary to put 
upon them; this may well be called ^^Office Lettering.’’ The 
second includes the use of letters for architectural inscriptions 
to be carved in wood or stone, or cast in metal: for this quite a 
different character of letter is required, and one that is always 
to be considered in its relation to the material in which it is to 
be executed, and designed in regard to its adaptability to its 
method of execution. This may be arbitrarily termed ^inscrip¬ 
tion Lettering,” and as a more subtle and less exact subject than 
office lettering it may better be taken up last. 

OFFICE LETTERINQ. 

Architectural office lettering has nothing in common with 
the usual Engineering letter, or rather, to be more exact, the re¬ 
verse is true: Engineering lettering has nothing in common with 
anything else. Its terminology is wrong and needlessly confusing 
inasmuch as it clashes with well and widely accepted definitions. 
Therefore it will be necessary to start entirely anew, and if the 
student has already studied any engineering book on the subject, 
to warn him that in this instruction paper such terms as Gothic, 
etc., will be used in their well-understood Architectural meaning 
and must not be misinterpreted to include the style of letter 
arbitrarily so called by Engineers. 

The first purpose of the lettering on an architectural plan or 
elevation is to identify the sheet with its name and general 
descriptive title, and further, to give the names of the owner 
and architect. The lettering for this purpose should always be 
rather important and large in size, and its location, weight and 



4 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


f 

height must be exactly determined by the size, shape and weight 
of the plan or elevation itself, as well as its location upon and 
relation to the paper on which it is drawn, in order to give a 
pleasing effect and to best finish or set off the drawing itself. 
The style of letter used may be suggested, or even demanded, by 
the design of the building represented. Thus Gothic lettering 
might be appropriate on a drawing of a Gothic church, just as 
Italian Renaissance lettering would be for a building of that 
style, or as Classic lettering would seem most suitable on the 
drawings for a purely Classic design; while each letter or legend 
would look equally out of place on any one of the other drawings. 

LETTER FORHS. 

It may be said that practically all the lettering now used 
in architectural offices in this country is derived, however re¬ 
motely it may seem in some cases, from the old Roman capitals 
as developed and defined during the period of the Italian Renais¬ 
sance. These Renaissance forms may be best studied first at a 
large size in order to appreciate properly the beauty and the 
subtlety of their individual proportions. For this purpose it is 
well to draw out at rather a large scale, about four or four and 
one-half inches in height, a set of these letters of some recognized 
standard form, and in order to insure an approximately correct 
result some such method of construction as that shown in Figs. 
1 and 2 should be followed. This alphabet, a product of the 
Renaissance, though of German origin, is one adapted from the 
well-known letters devised by Albrecht Diirer about 1525, and is 
here merely redrawn to a simpler constructive method and ar¬ 
ranged in a more condensed fashion. This may be .accepted as a 
good general form of Roman capital letter in outline, although 
it lacks a little of the Italian delicacy of feeling and thus be¬ 
trays its German origin. 

The letter is here shown in a complete alphabet, including 
those letters usually omitted from the Classic or Italian inscrip¬ 
tions: the J, U (the V in its modern form) and two alternative 
W’s, which are separately drawn out in Fig. 1. 

These three do not properly form part of the Classic alpha¬ 
bet and have come into use only within comparatively modern 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


5 


times. Eoi this reason in any strictly Classic inscription the 
letter I should be used in place of the J, and the V in place 
of the U. It is sonietiines necessary to use the W in our modern 
spelling, when the one composed of the double V should always 
be employed. 

The system of construction shown in this alphabet is not 
exactly the one that Diirer himself devised. The main forms 
of the letters as well as their proportions are very closely copied 
from the original alphabet, hut the construction has been some¬ 
what simplified and some few minor changes made in the letters 
themselves, tending more towards a modern and more uniform 
character. The two W^s, one showing the construction with the 
use of the two overlapping letter V’s, and one showing the W 
incorporated upon the same square unit which carries the other 



Fig. 1. Two Alternative Forms of the Letter W, 
to accompany the Alphabet shown in Fig. 2. 


letters (the latter form being the one used by Diirer himself), 
are shown separately in Fig. 1. It should be noticed that every 
letter in the alphabet, except one or two that of necessity lack 
the requisite width—such as the I and J—is based upon and 
fills up the outline of a square, or in the case of the round letters, 
a circle which is itself contained within the square. This alpha¬ 
bet should be compared with the alphabet in Fig. 4, attributed 
to Sebastian Serlio, an Italian architect of the sixteenth century. 
By means of this comparison a very good idea may be obtained 
of the differences and characteristics which distinguish the Italian 
and German traits in practically contemporaneous lettering. 

After once drawing out these letters at a large size, the be¬ 
ginner may find that he has unconsciously acquired a better con¬ 
structive feeling for the general proportions of the individ'nal let- 





















































6 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


ters and should thereafter form the letters free-hand without the 
aid of any such scheme of construction, merely referring occa¬ 
sionally to the large chart as a sort of guide or check upon the 





Fig. 2. Alphabet of Classic Renaissance Letters according to Albrecht 
Diirer, adapted and reconstructed by F, C. Brown. (See Fig. 1.) 


eye. For this purpose it should be placed conveniently, so that it 
may be referred to when in doubt as to the outline of any in¬ 
dividual letter. By following this course and practicing thor- 























































































































































































































































































AKCHITECTUEAL LETTERING 


7 


ouglily the use of the letters in word combinations, a ready com¬ 
mand over this important style of letter will eventually be 
acquired. 

















































'' 1 










A 







T 

1 

J^k 




i 










w 


y 




\ A 

Wi 



/f 




W" 

f 







w 







i 















’’ I 




\ 
















Fig. 2. (Continued) 


In practice it will soon be discovered that , a letter in outline 
and of a small size is more difficult to draw than one solidly 
blacked-in, because the defining outline must be even upon both 

































































































































































































































































8 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


its edges,* and that as the eye follows more the inner side of this 
line than it does the outer, both in drawing and afterwards in 
recognizing the letter form, the inaccuracies of the outer side of 
the line are likely to show up against the neighboring letters, and 
produce an irregularity of effect that it is difficult to overcome, 
especially for the beginner; while in a solidly blacked-in letter, 
it is the outline and proportions alone with which the draftsman 
must concern himself. Therefore, a letter in the same style is 
more easily and rapidly drawn wlien solidly blacked-in than as 
an ^ffipen’’ or outline letter. In many cases where it is desired 
to give a more or less formal and still sketchy effect, a letter of 
the same construction but with certain differences in its charac¬ 
teristics may be used. It should not be so difficult to draw, and 
much of the same character may still be retained in a form that 


TAVNTON'PVBLIC* LIBRA RY 
TAVNTON'MAAAAC HV^ ETT5 

/4.BLRT RUDOLPH ROJJ APCHITECT ONE HUNEBED AND FIFTY JK FIFTH /VENUE NEWYORX CITY 


Fig. 3. Title from Competitive Drawings for the Taunton Public Library, 

Albert Randolph Ross, Architect. 

is much easier to execute. Some such letter as is shown at the 
top of Eig. 10, or any other personal variation of a similar form 
such as may be better adapted to the pen of the individual drafts¬ 
man would answer this purpose. The titles shown in Figs. 3 and 
5 include letters of this same general type, but of essentially 
different character. 

In drawing a letter that is to be incised in stone it is cus¬ 
tomary to show in addition to the outline, a third line about in 
the center of the space between the outside lines. This addi¬ 
tional line represents the internal angle that occurs at the meeting 
of the two sloping faces used to define the letter. An example is 
shown in Figs. 24 and 25, while in Fig. 7, taken from drawings 
for a building by McKim, Mead & White, the same convention 
is frankly employed to emphasize the principal lettering of a 
pen-drawn title. 







ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


9 


ABCD 
E FGH 

I KLM 

NOQP 
RS TV 

WXYZ 


Fig. 4. Italian Renaissance Alphabet, according to Sebastian Serlio. 



10 


ARCHITECT[JEAL LETTERING 


For the i)urpose of devising a letter that may be drawn with 
one stroke of the pen and at the same time retain the general 
character of the larger, more Classic alphabet, in order that it 
may be consistently nsed for less important lettering on the same 
drawing, it is interesting to try the experiment of making a 
skeleton of the letters in Figs. 1 and 2. This consists in running 
a single heavy line around in the middle of the strokes that form 


JER5EY- OTY • FREE' PVBLIC ’ LIBRARY 

•3GM£ ^ CNE’IMCH ’ ♦ PCVR. * PEET• 

BRJTL*/NO*BACON • ARCHiTECTi * IILBFIH‘AVENVE‘N£W*YORK*aTY* 

Fig. 5. Title from Drawings for the Jersey City Public Library, 

iirite & Bacon, Architects. 


the outline of these letters. This ^‘^skeleton” letter, with a few 
modifications, will be found to make the best possible capital 
letter for rapid use on working drawings, etc., and in a larger 
size it may be used to advantage for titling details (Fig. 9). It 
will also prove to be singularly effective for principal lettering 





on plans, to give names of rooms, etc. (Fig. 13), while in a still 
smaller size it may sometimes be used for notes, although a 
minuscule or lower case letter will be found more generally useful 
for this purpose. 

In Fig. 6 are shown four letters where the skeleton has been 
dra’wn within the outline of the more Classic form. It is un- 



























' THREE CWTER INCH ECALE DETAIL* FRONT ELEWION 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


11 






O 


o 

U 

>4-» 

C/) 


H 




> 

a 

(Q 

I 

a 

ui 

? 


u 

<u 

^ . 

o tn 


O 


u 

<u 


<u .t: 

CJ (J 

<u oT 
4=; .ti 

o 


bfl 


oa 


•E Id 

'O CTJ 
^ <u 

■E S 
m 

B 

o .S 

be ^ 
c 

•r S 

a 

i-> 


B 

o 

t-l 


i— a> 


7 ; 


H 


X 

'0 

txi 

N 

ui 

tt. 


bo 


necessary to continue this experi¬ 
ment at a greater length, as it is 
believed the idea is sufficiently de¬ 
veloped in these four letters. In 
addition it is merely the theoreti-’ 
cal part of the experiment that it 
is desirable to impress upon the 
draftsman. In practice it will he 
found advisable to make certain 
further variations from this ^^skel- 
eton’’ in order to obtain the most 
pleasing effect possible with a 
single-line letter. But the basic 
relationship of these two forms 
will amply indicate the propriety 
of using them in combination or 
upon the same drawing. 

It will he found that the letter 
more fully shown in Fig. 10 is 
almost the same as the letter pro¬ 
duced by this ^^skeleton” method, 
except that it is more condensed. 
That is, the letters are narrower 
for their height and a little freer 
or easier in treatment. This 
means that they can he lettered 
more rapidly and occupy less 
space, and also that they will pro¬ 
duce a more felicitous effect. 

In actual practice, the free cap¬ 
itals shown in Fig. 10 will be 
found to he of the shape that can 
he made most rapidly and easily, 
and this style or some similar let¬ 
ter should he studied and practiced 
very carefully. 

Other examples of simnar 
one-line capitals will he found 



























12 


ARCHITECTUllAL LETTERING 

S 


used with classic outline or blacked-in capitals on drawings, 
Figs. 3, 5 and 7. 

In Figs. 8, 9 and 13 these one-line letters are used for 
principal titles as well, and with good effect. 

In Fig. 10 is shown a complete alphabet of this single-line 


NLL OF INDIANA LIMESTONE 
CiENESEE VMLEY TRJiST CD'S bVILDINCi 

Fig. 8. Title from Architectural Drawing, Claude Fayette Bragdon, Architect. 

letter, and the adaptability of this character for use on details is 
indicated by the title taken from one and reproduced in Fig. 9. 
In the same plate, Fig. 10, is also shown an excellent form of 
small letter that may be used with any of these capitals. It is 




405 ■ Commonwealth Avl 

OepLemFer . 01 • 

Frank. • Choateau • brown • Architect • 
jsj 9 • Parlo -citreet- boo’CoiN Ma.J’J' • 

Fig. 9. Title from Detail, 


quite as plain as any Engineer’s letter, and is easier to make, 
and at the same time when correctly placed upon the drawing 
it is much more decorative. This entire plate is reproduced at 
a slight reduction from the size at which it was drawn, so that 
it may be studied and followed closely. 












ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


13 


LETTERS FOR‘ 
‘PRINCIPAL* 
TITLES * 

•5CALE THRiE-QmKERS- 
■0FANINCHEQ\AL60NE- 

•FOOT 

• ortiall-Letters aobcd- 

■ efohyklmnopqratuv • 

• W3WZ • for- rapid work- 

CAPITALS ABCDEG 
FHIJKLMNOPQRJT 

UVXWYZ-FEEEHAND 


Fig. 10. letters for Architectural Office use. 







14 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


Fig. 10 should be most carefully studied and copied, as it 
represents such actual letter shapes as are used continually on 


AMALPHABEI 

Br APCHITLCTS 


AlCDEFQHUKLH 
NOk)kiTUVWYL 

A qoal alphapd io, 

kutnm plans ^tc 

Fig. 11. Single-line Italic Letters, by Claude Fayette Bragdon. 


architectural drawings, and such as would, therefore, be of the 
most use to the draftsman. He should so perfect himself in these 
alphabetr that he will have them always at hand for instant use. 





ARCHITECTUKAL LETTERING 


15 


The alphabets of capital and minuscule one-line letters 
shown in Fig. 11 are similar in general type to those we have just 
been discussing, except that they are sloped or inclined letters 
and therefore come under the heading of ^Ttalics/’ The Italic 
letter is ordinarily used to emphasize a word or phrase in a 
sentence where the major portion of the letters are upright; 



Y YO^ 


/ f IN-v 

A' 


? YO 


CAPITAL FROM 
THE/TOWER OF 
THEWIND^. 

ATHEN,^. 




ROLETTE. FROM 
TEMPLE OF MARS. 
12DME 




CORINTHIAN CAP 
FROM HADRIAN 
BU1LD1NG5» 

ATHENE. 



WO 


•IN 


CAULICULUSl 
" OF CORINTHIAN 

CAP 


IiALU5T£Rj 3Y iAN GALLO 


Fig. 12. Drawing, by Claude Fayette Bragdon. 


but where the entire legend is lettered in Italics this effect of 
emphasis is not noticeable, and a pleasing and somewhat more 
unusual drawing is likely to result. If it is deemed advisable to 
emphasize any portion of the lettering on such a drawing, it is 
necessary only to revert to the upright form of letter for that 
portion. 

The single-line capitals and small letters on the usual archi¬ 
tectural plan or working drawing are illustrated in Fig. 13, where 
such a plan is reproduced. This drawing was not one made spe- 
































































16 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


cially to show this point, but was selected from among several 
as best illustrating the use of the letter forms themselves, as well 
as good placing and composition of the titles, both in regard to 
the general outline of the plan and their spacing and location in , 
the various rooms. It is apparent that it is not exactly accurate 
in the centering in one or two places. For instance, in the general 
title, the two lower lines are run too far to the right of the 
center line, and this should be corrected in any practice work 
where these principles will be utilized. It may be well to say 
that the actual length of this plan in the original drawing was 
thirteen inches, and the rest of it large in proportion. The 
student should not attempt to redraw any such example as thid 
at the size of the illustration. He must always allow for the re¬ 
duction from the original drawing, and endeavor to reconstruct 
the example at the original size, so that it would have the same 
effect when reduced as the model that he follows. 

The letters for notes and more detailed information should 
be much simpler and smaller than and yet may be made to accord 
with the larger characters. Such a raj^id letter as that shown in 
Fig. 10, for instance, may be used effectively with a severely clas¬ 
sical title. Of course, no one with a due regard for propriety or 
for economy of time would think of using the Gothic small letter 
for this purpose. 

The portion of a drawing shown in Fig. 14 illustrates an¬ 
other instance of the use of lettering on an architectural working 
drawing. The lettering defined by double lines is in this case 
a portion of the architectural design, the two letters on the pend¬ 
ant banners being sewn on to the cloth while those on the lower 
portion of the drawing are square-raised from the background 
and gilded. Single-line capitals are used in this example for the 
notes and information necessary to understand the meaning of 
the drawing. 

A drawing of distinction should have a principal title of 
equal beauty, such as that shown in Fig. 5 or Fig. 7. The ex¬ 
cellent lettering reproduced in Fig. 12, from a drawing by Mr. 
Claude Fayette Bragdon, is a strongly characteristic and in¬ 
dividual form, although based on the same ^^skeleton” idea as 
the other types of single-line lettering already referred to. 


f 



; 



IJOUf ■ -'>UQ . 

' NVTd ''^lOD'U ' atsTOJIf' 
































































































































































































































Fig. 14. Upper Portion of Drawing for Otis Memorial Arch, Claude Fayette Bragdon, Architect. 



































































































ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


19 


The ‘^skeleton’’ letter, formed on the classic Roman letter, 
displays quite as clearly as does the constructive system of Al¬ 
brecht Diirer, the distinctively square effect of the Roman capi¬ 
tal. The entire Roman alphabet is built upon this square and 
its units. The letters shown in Eigs. 22 and 23 are redrawn from 
rubbings of old marble inscriptions in the Roman Forum, and 
may he taken as representative of the best kind of classic letter 



BIGELOW 

KENNARD??CO 

GOLDSMITHS 
SILVERSMITHS 
JEWELERS ^ 
IMPORTERS 
MAKERS OF 
FINE mTCHES 
AND CLOCKS 

5II WASHINGTON ST 
CORNEROFWEST ST. 


w 


-s— 


... — 3 

JL usa * 

M 


4 . 

i 







■mmr 


Fig. 15 , Advertising Design, by Addison B. Le Boutillier. 


for incision in stone. The Diirer letter, while a product of a later 
period, is fundamentally the same, and differs only in minor, if 
characteristic, details. However, for purposes of comparison it 
will serve to show the difference between a letter incised in mar¬ 
ble, or in any other material, and one designed for use in letter¬ 
ing in black ink against a white background. 

COMPOSITION. 

After acquiring a sufficient knowledge of letter forms, the 
student is ready to begin the study- of lettering. While a 
knowledge of architectural beauty of form is the first essential, it 
































20 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


BIGELOW. KENNARD AND CO. 
WILL HOLD, IN THEIR ART 
ROOMS.MARCHa5 TO APRIL6 
INCLUSIVE. A SPECIAL EXHIBI¬ 
TION AND SALE OF GRUEBY 
POTTERY INCLUDING THE 
COLLECTION SELECTED FOR 
THE BUFFALO EXPOSITION 
MDCCCCl 



WASHINGTON STREET, COR¬ 
NER OF WEST STREET BOSTON 


Fig. 16. Cover Announcement, by Addison B. Le Boutillier. 










ARCHITECTUEAL LETTERING 


31 


is not the vital part in lettering, for the composition of these sep¬ 
arate characters is by far the most important part of the problem. 

Composition in lettering is almost too intangible to define by 
any rule. All the suggestions that may be given are of necessity 
laid out on merely mathematical formulae, and as such are in¬ 
capable of equaling the result that may be obtained by spacing 
and producing the effect solely from artistic experience and intui¬ 
tion. The final result should always be judged by its effect upon 
the eye, which must be trained until it is susceptible to the slight¬ 
est deviation from the perfect whole. It is more difficult to define 
what good composition is in lettering than in painting or any 
other of the more generally accepted arts, and it resolves itself 
back to the same problem. The eye must be trained by constant 
study of good and pleasing forms and proportions, until it appre¬ 
ciates instinctively almost intangible mistakes in spacing and ar¬ 
rangement. 

This point of ^^composition” is so important that a legend 
of most beautiful individual letter forms, badly placed, will not 
produce as pleasing an effect as an arrangement of more awkward 
letters when their composition is good. This quality has been 
so much disregarded in the consideration of lettering, that it is 
important the student^s attention should he directed to it with 
additional force, in order that he may begin with the right feel¬ 
ing for his work. 

An excellent example of composition and spacing is shown 
in Fig. 16, from a drawing by Mr. Addison B. Le Boutillier. The 
relation between the two panels of lettering and the vase form, 
and the placing of the whole on the paper with regard to its 
margins, etc., are exceptionally good, and the rendered shape of 
the vase is just the proper weight and color in reference to the 
weight and color of the lettered panels. 

In this reproduction the border line represents the edge of 
the paper upon which the design itself was printed, and not a 
border line enclosing the panel. The real effect of the original 
composition can he obtained only by eliminating the paper ouk 
side of this margin and by studying the placing and mass of the 
design in relation to the remaining ^^spot” and proportions of the 
paper. Perhaps the simplest and most certain way to realize the 


22 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


effect of the original is to cut out a rectangle the size of this panel 
from a differently colored piece of paper, and place it over the 
page as a mask,” so that only the outline of the original design 
will show through. 

The other example by the same designer, shown in Fig. 15, 
is equally good. The use of the letter with the architectural 
ornament, and the form, proportion, spacing and composition of 
the lettering are all admirable. 

The title page, by Mr. Claude Fayette Bragdon, shown in 

Fig*. 17, is a composition in¬ 
cluding the use of many differ¬ 
ent types of letters; yet all be¬ 
long to the same period and 
style, so that an effect of sim¬ 
plicity is still retained. In 
composition, this page is not 
unlike its possible composition 
in type, but in that case no such 
variety of form for the letters 
would be feasible, while the en¬ 
tire design has an effect of 
coherence and fusion which the 
use of a pen letter alone makes 
possible, and which could not 
be obtained at all in typograph¬ 
ical examples. The treatment 
of the ornament incorporated in 

Fig. 17. Title Page, by Claude this design should be noticed for 
Fayette Bragdon. pg weight and rendering, which 

bear an exact relation to the ^‘color” of the letter employed. 

In Fig. 18 is a lettered panel that will well repay careful 
study. The composition is admirable, the letter forms of great 
distinction—especially the small letters—and yet this example 
has not the innate refinement of the others. The decorative 
panel at the top is too heavy, and the ornament employed has 
no special beauty of form, fitness, or charm of rendering (com¬ 
pare Figs. 15 and 16). while the weight of the panel requires 


STORIES 

from the 


Chap-Book 

Being a MISCELLANY 
Curious and interefting TaleJi 
Hiftories. &c; newly com- 
jpofed Many Cei.e>- 
BKATED Writers 
and very delight¬ 
ful to read. 



CHICAGO: 

Printed for Herbert S. Stone Company, 

and are to be (bid by them at The 
CsxtonBuildi^ inDarbomStreet 





ARCHITECTUKAL LETTERING 


23 


some such over-lieavv border treatment as has been used. Here, 

t/ 7 

again, in the slight Gothic cusping at the angles a lack of restraint 
or judgment on the part of the designer is indicated, this Gothic 
touch being entirely out of keeping with the lettering itself, and 
only partially demanded by the decorative panel. Of course, ic 



Fig. 18. Advertising Announcement. 


is easy to see that these faults are all to be attributed to an 
attempt to attract and hold the eye and thus add to tlie value 
of the design as an advertisement; but a surer taste could have 
obtained this result and yet not at the expense of the composition 
as a whole. It is nevertheless an admirable piece of work. 

In Eig. 19 is shown an example of the use of lettering in 
























34 


ARCniTECTUliAL LETTERING 


coiiipositioHj in connection witli a bolder design, in this case 
for a book cover, by Mr. II. Van Bnren Magonigle. JSlote the 
nice sense of relation between the style of lettering employed and 
the design itself, as well as the subject of the work. The letter 
form is a most excellent modernization of the classic Roman 
letter shape (compare Figs. 22 and 23). 



OiD 

Fig. 19. Book Cover, by H. Van Buren Magonigle. 


The student must be ever appreciative of all examples of the 
good and bad uses of lettering that he sees, until he can distim 
guish the niceties of their composition and appreciate to the 
utmost such examples as the first of these here shown. It is only 
by constant analysis of varied examples that he can be able to 
distinguish the points that make for good or bad lettering. 




















ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


25 


SPACING. 

There is a workable general rule that may be given for 
obtaining an even color over a panel of black letterings that is, if 
the individual letters are so spaced as to have an equal area of 
white between them this evenness of effect may be attained. But 
when put to its use, even this rule will be found to be surrounded 
P^tf^ils for the unwary. This rule for spacing must not be 
understood to mean that it applies as well to composition. It does 
not. it is, at the best, but a makeshift to prevent one from going 
far wrong in the general tone of a panel of lettering, and must 
therefore fully apply only to a legend employing one single type 
of letter form. 

One with sufficient authority and experience to give up de¬ 
pendence upon merely arbitrary rules, and to rely upon his own 
judgment and taste may, by varying sizes and styles of letters, 
length of word lines, etc., obtain a finer and much more subtle effect. 

To acquire this authority in modern lettering it is necessary 
to observe and study the work turned out today by the best de¬ 
signers and draftsmen, such as the drawings of Edward Penfield, 
Maxfield Parrish, A. B. Le Boutillier and several others. The 
architectural journals, also, publish from month to month beauti¬ 
fully composed and lettered scale drawings by such draftsmen as 
Albert R. Ross, H. Van Buren Magonigle, Claude Fayette Brag- 
don, Will S. Aldrich and others, who have had precisely the same 
problem to solve as is presented to the draftsman in every new 
office drawing that he begins. 

Of course, the freer and the further removed from a purely 
Classic capital form is the letter shape employed by the drafts¬ 
man, the less obliged is he to follow Classic precedent; but at the 
same time he will find that his drawing at once tends more toward 
the bizarre and eccentric, and the chances are that it will lose in 
effectiveness, quietness, legibility and strength. 

The student will soon find that he unconsciously varies and 
individualizes the letters that he constantly employs, until they 
become most natural and easy for him to form. This insures his 
developing a characteristic letter of his own, even when at the 
start he bases it upon the same models as have been used by many 
other draftsmen. 


26 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


niNUSCULE OR SHALL LETTERS. 

In taking up the use of the small or minuscule letter, a word 
of warning may be required. While typographical work may 
furnish very valuable models for composition and for the individ¬ 
ual shapes of minuscule letters, they should never be studied for 
the spacing of letters, as such spacing in type is necessarily arbi¬ 
trary, restricted and often unfortunate. Among the lower case 
types will be found our best models of individual minuscule 
letter forms, and the Caslon old style is especially to be com¬ 
mended in this respect; but in following these models the aim 
must be to get at and express the essential characteristics of each 
letter form, to reduce it to a ‘^skeleton’’ after much the same 
fashion as has already been done with the capital letter, rather 
than to strive to copy the inherent faults and characteristics of 
a type-minuscule letter. The letter must become a ‘^pen form” 
before it will be apj^ropriate or logical for pen use; in other 
words, the necessary limitations of the instrument and material 
must be yielded to before the letter will be amenable to use for 
lettering architectural drawings. 

The small letters shown in Figs. 17, 18 and 20 are all 
adapted from the Caslon or some similar type form, and all ex¬ 
hibit their superiority of spacing over the possible use of any 
type letter. Fig. 20 is a particularly free and beautiful example 
indicating the latent possibilities of the minuscule form that are 
as yet almost universally disregarded. An instance of the use 
of the small letter shown in a complete alphabet in Fig. 10, may 
be seen in Figs. 9 and 13. 

In lettering plans for working drawings, the small letter is 
used a great deal. All the minor notes, instructions for the 
builders or contractors, and memoranda of a generally unimpor¬ 
tant character, are inscribed upon the drawing in these letters. 
Referring again to Fig. 10, the letters at the top of the page would 
be those used for the principal title, the name of the drawing, 
the name of the building or its owner, while the outline capitals 
would be used in the small size beneath the general title, to indicate 
the scale and the architect, together with his address. In a small 
building, or one for domestic use, these same letters would he 
employed in naming the various rooms, etc., although in an 



SMALL OR MINUSCULE LETTERING FROM A HAND LETTERED INSCRIPTION IN BRONZE IN THE CATHEDRAL AT BAUMBERG, 1613. 





i/Sl 






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r.fvVv’’' 


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.^‘-"1 f1 


yi 


pill 


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F*.}A 


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.'.V*( 


il' ♦ ’JS' 


n. 






Ci 


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ifilLi ' 

-r 

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3^.gB| 


.fd': 


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'TSJ 


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Jk 


1 'i\ ■ ^'*' . '<(.-•<■* ■ •' ,"j •r! • ■ >' "vJ-i C>. ’ , ', . -*’r .■ 1^^ -jw 

■.„ . ,■•#; •.;■ •/ .‘W - •■ '-riraM 



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w, iRi... .;.■ 




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ARCHITECTUEAL LETTERING 


27 


elaborate ornamental or public building, letters similar to those 
in the principal title might be better used, while the minuscule 
letter would be utilized for all minor notes, memoranda, direc¬ 
tions, etc. By referring to Figs. 3, 5, 7, 8 , 9 , 13 and 14, examples 
from actual working drawings and plans are shown, which should 
sufficiently indicate the application of this principle. 

It must again be emphasized that practice in the use of these 
forms combined together in words, as web as in more diffi¬ 
cultly composed titles and inscriptions where various sizes and 
kinds of letters are employed, is the only method by which the 
draftsman can become proficient in the art of lettering 5 and 
even then he must intelligently study and criticise their effect 

INTER-UvTLS 
be^ne-atK tho lines oT SIR. 
R_ICHAR.D LOVELACE ’O' 

POEM eaUed — "To Luoafta 
on ^oing’ to wars ” 

wnic/K saitK : 

Fig. 20. Pen-drawn Heading, by Harry Everett Townsend, 

after they are finished, as well as study continually the many good 
drawings carrying lettering reproduced in the architectural jour¬ 
nals. For this purpose, in order to keep abreast of the modern 
advance in this requirement, he must early learn to distinguish 
between the instances of good and bad composition and lettering. 

ARCHITECTURAL INSCRIPTION LETTERING. 

The use of a regular Classic letter for any purpose neces¬ 
sitates the reversion to and the study of actual Classic examples 
for spacing and composition. In using this letter in a pen- 
drawn design, certain changes must be made in adapting it from 
the incised stone-cut form—which variations are, of course, prac¬ 
tically the reverse of those required in first adapting the letter for 
use in stone. The same letter for stone incision requires, in 
addition, a careful consideration of the nature of the material, 
and the spacing and letter section that it allows. Also the effect 



28 


ARCIUTECTUKAL LETTEIUKU 



Fig. 21. Study for Lettering on Granite Frieze of Boston Public Library, 

McKim, Mead & White, Architects. 


















ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


29 


of a letter in the inscription in place must be carefully studied, 
'its height above or below and relation to the eye of the observer. 
The fact is that the letter form must in this case be determined 
solely by the light and shadow cast by the sun on a clear, bright 
day, or diffused more evenly on a cloudy one. If in an interior 
location its position in regard to light and view-point is even more 
important, as the conditions are less variable. 

CLASSIC ROMAN LETTERS. 

In any letter cut in stone, or cast in metal, it is not the out¬ 
line of the letter that is seen by the eye of the observer, but the 
shadow cast by the section used to define the letter. This at once 
changes the entire problem and makes it much more complicated. 
In incising or cutting a letter into an easily carved material, such 
as stone or marble, we have the examples left us by the inventors, 
or at least the adapters, of the Roman alphabet. They have gen¬ 
erally used it with a V-sunk section, and in architectural and 
monumental work this is still the safest method and the one most 
generally followed. One improvement has been made in adapt¬ 
ing it to our modern conditions. The old examples were most 
often carved in a very fine marble which allowed a deep sinkage 
at a very sharp angle, thus obtaining a well-defined edge and a deep 
shadow. In most modern work the letters are cut in sandstone 
or even in such coarse material as granite, where sharp angles and 
deep sinkage of the letter-section is either impossible, or for com¬ 
mercial reasons influencing both contractors and stonecutters, very 
hard to obtain. To counterbalance this fault a direct sinkage 
at right angles to the surface of the stone before beginning the 
V section has been tried, and is found to answer the purpose 
very well, as it at once defines the edge of the letter with a sharp 
shadow. See the two large sections shown in the upper part of 
Fig. 31. 

This section requires a letter of pretty good size and width 
of section, and, therefore, may be used only on work far removed 
from the eye, as is indeed alone advisable. An inscription that 
is to be seen close at hand must rely upon the more correct section 
and be cut as deeply as possible. For lettering placed at a great 
height, an even stronger effect may be obtained by making the 
incised section square, and sinking it directly into the stone. 


30 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


Such pleasant grading of shadows as may be attained by the 
other method is then impossible, and there are no subtle cross 




Fig. 22. Classic Roman Alphabet. 

From Marble Inscriptions in the Roman Forum. 


lights on the rounding letters to add interest and variety, but 
the letter certainly carries farther and has more strength. 

























































































ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


31 


^ In Fig. 21 is shown a photograph from a model of the 
incised V-sunk letters cut in granite on the frieze of the Boston 




Fig. 23. Fragments of Classic Roman Inscriptions. 


Public Library. This photograph indicates the shadow effect that 
defines the incised form of the letter, and will assist the student 



























































































32 


AECHITECTUKAL LETTEEING 


somewhat in determining the section required for the best effect. 
It will be observed that this letter is different in character from 
the one used by the same architects in a different material, sand¬ 
stone, shown in Fig. 24. 

In Fig. 22 is shown an alphabet redrawn from a rubbing of 
Eoman lettering, and in Fig. 23 are shown portions of Classic 
inscriptions where letters of various characters are indicated. 
These letters were very sharply incised with a V-sunk section in 
marble, and were possibly cut by Greek workmen in Rome. It 
is on some such alphabet as this that we must form any modern 
letter to be used in a Classic inscription or upon a Classic build¬ 
ing. These forms should be compared with the letters shown in 
Fig. 24, on the Architectural Building at Harvard, by McKim, 
Mead & White, architects, where they were employed with a full 
understanding of the differences in use and material. The Roman 
letter was cut in marble; the modern letter in sandstone. Both 
were incised in the V-sunk section, but the differences in material 
will at once indicate that the modern letter could not have been 
cut as clearly nor as deeply as the old one. The modern letter 
was done a little more than twice the original size of the old one, 
which explains certain subtleties in its outline as here drawn. 
The sandstone being a darker material than the marble, the letter 
should of necessity be heavier and larger in the same location, 
in order to ^^carry’’ or be distinguishable at the same distance; 
while the Classic example, being sharply and deeply cut in a 
beautiful white material which even when wet retains much of its 
purity of color, would be defined by a sharper and blacker outline, 
and therefore be more easily legible, other conditions being the 
same, even for a longer distance. In both these figures, the 
composition of the letters may be seen to advantage, as in even 
the Classic example, where they are alphabetically arranged, they 
are placed in the same relation to each other as they held in the 
original inscription. A complete alphabet of the letter shown in 
word use in Fig. 24, is shown at larger size in Fig. 25. 

Although the lettering of the Italian Renaissance period was 
modeled closely after the Classic Roman form, it was influenced 
by many different considerations, styles and peoples. 



Fig. 24 . Lettering from Harvard Architectural Building. McKim, Mead & White. Architects. 
















































































































































34 


AKCHITECTURAL LETTERING 









Fig. 25. Complete Alphabet. 

Redrawn from Inscription on Architectural Building (See Fig. 24). 





















































































ATICIIITECTURAL LETTERING 







Fig. 25. (Continued) 



















































































3G 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 













Fig. 26 . Fragment of Italian Renaissance Inscription. 
From the Marsuppini Tomb in Florence. » 

. I 

i 






































































AI^PHABET of modern CAPITAE letters of ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CHARACTER. 
Suitable for cutting at a small size (i. e. l}i inches high) in stone. 






































































































































































LETTERING FROM BRONZE PLATE IN CATHEDRAL CHURCH AT WURZBURG. 1594 





ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


37 


ITALIAN RE¬ 
NAISSANCE 
LETTERING 
ABCDEFG 
HIJKLMNE 
OPQRSTU 
VXWYZ 

Fig. 27. Italian Renaissance Lettering. 

Adapted from Inscription shown in Fig. ?6. 


38 


ARCHITECTUIUL LETTERING 


In Fig. 26 is shown a! fragment of the inscription on the 
Marsnppini tomb at Florence. This outline letter was traced 
from a nibbing, and shows very nearly the exact character of the 

original, a marble incised letter. Fig. 27 is an alphabet devised 

« « * 

•/V. 


Fig. 28. Italian Renaissance Inscription at Bologna. 

from this incised letter for use as a pen-drawn form and redrawn 
at the same size. It will be noticed that in the letters shown in 
the four lower lines a quite different serif* treatment has been 
adopted, and certain of the letters, such as the E’s, have been 

OOB^De RHQH 

pis-oeReeoai 

PSOHOCRXLai 

Fig. 29. Italian Renaissance Inscription, Chiaravelle Abbey in Milan. 

^^extended’^ or made wider in proportion. These variations are 
Pitch as modern taste would generally advocate, but in the first 
three lines of this plate the feeling, serif treatment and letter 
width of the original have been retained; the only change has 

*Note. The “serif” is the short spur or cross stroke used to define 
and end the main upright and horizontal lines of the letter. 


r?ia-paafnDr?spr?ii/ip 

i]ifi/i\e(i-Poji\ppiii-q?iOBi 

i/iaofij-PMqq-joiqfiic^ 




ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


39 


Boao 



Fig. 30. Alphabet of Uncial Gothic Capital Letters, 16th Century. 


40 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


been to narrow up the thin lines in relation to the thick lines 
to the proportions that they should have in a solidly black and 
inked-in letter form. 

The two small panels, one from a monument in Bologna, and 
one from the Chiaravelle Abbey in Milan, Figs. 28 and 29, show 
a letter which was incised in stone and follows the so-called uncial 
or round form, with characteristics showing the probable influence 
of the Byzantine art and period. These two inscriptions may be 
compared with another alphabet showing the uncial character 
when used in black against a white page, as in Fig. 30. This 
same style of letter was often used in metal, and may be seen in 
many of the mortuary slabs of this and succeeding periods. 



‘.SECTIONS 

/\ -^TONE, 

J' \ru"‘v: 

'CIA&SIC" '-MODEEN- 

‘v^yv 

-GRANITE.- 

‘METAL* 



-V V" 
‘WQDD 


\r 


•vyvr\'w 


Fig. 31. Inscription Letter Sections. 


In many of the Renaissance wall monuments the V-sunk 
letter sections have been fllled with a black putty to make the 
letter very clear, and when this falls out, as it often does, the 
V-cut section may still be seen behind it. Also in many Italian 
floor slabs the letters are either V-sunk or shallow, square sinkages 
filled with mastic, or sometimes they are of inlaid marble of a 
color different from the ground. Again a V-sunk letter section 
sometimes carries an additional effect because it is smoothly cut 



AKCniTECTUKAL LETTERING 


41 



Fig. 32. English 17th Century Letters, from Tombstones. 









42 


AKCIIITECTUEAL LETTEIUNG 


and finished and the surface of the stone is left rough, thus 
obtaining a different texture and color effect; or, though more 
rarely, the opposite treatifient may be used. Then, again, the 
sides of the letter sinkage may be painted or gilded. Often even 
the shadow is painted into the section, but this is generally done 
on interior cutting where there is no direct light from the sun, 
because if direct sunlight does fall upon a letter so treated, a very 
amusing effect occurs when the shadow is in any other j)osition 
than that occupied by the painted representation. 

For still further effects, raised lettering may be cut on stone 
surfaces. This is more expensive, as it necessitates the more labor 
in cutting back the entire ground of the panel, but for certain 
purposes it is very appropriate. 

In such a letter the section may be a raised V-shape, or it 
may be rounded over to make a half circle in section, as drawn 
in Fig. 31. This latter form is especially effective in marble, 
but it is, of course, very delicate and does not carry to any 
great distance. Its use should be restricted to small monu¬ 
mental headstones or to lettering to be read close to, and below 
the level of, the eye. 

A raised letter is more generally appropriate for cast copper 
and bronze tablets, when its section may be a half round, a 
raised V-form, or square-raised with sharp corners; or, better 
still, a combination of square and V-raised with a hollow face. 
See Fig. 31. Experience has proved that this last-named section 
produces the most telling letter for an ordinary cast-metal panel. 

Fig. 32 shows an alphabet of a letter derived from English 
tombstones. This letter was cut in slate or an equally friable 
material, and was comparatively shallow. A certain tendency 
toward easing the acute angles may be observed in this alphabet, 
evidently on account of the nature of the material in which it 
was carved rendering it easily chipped or broken. 

In wood carving, a letter exactly reversing the V-sunk sec¬ 
tion with direct sinkage, gives the best effect for a raised letter. 

Every material, from its nature and limitations, requires 
special consideration. A letter with riany angles is not adapted 
to slate, as that material is liable to chip and sliver; hence an 


ARCIIITECTUKAL LETTEPJNG 


43 



Fig. 33. German Black Letters, from a Brass. 






44 


ARCHITECTURAL LETTERING 


uncial form with rounded angles suggests itself (as in Fig. 29), 
and is, indeed, frequently used. 

It would be quite impossible to take up in detail the entire 
list of available materials and consider their limitations at length, 
as the task would be endless. For the same reason, it is not 
possible to take up each letter style and consider its use in stone 
and other materials. Of course, a Homan letter or any other 
similar form when drawn for stone-incised use must have its 
narrow lines at least twice as wide as when drawn in ink, black 
against a white background. (Compare Figs. 26 and 27.) 

Experience and intuition combined with common sense will 
go farther than all the theory in the world to teach the limitations 

akDrfntJijWin: 

noi^i)n$litoiD|p| 

Fig. 34. Black-Letter Alphabet. 

required by letter form and material. The student, however, 
should bear in mind that it is not necessary that he himself should 
make a number of mistakes in order to learn what not to do. He 
may get just as valuable information at a less cost by observing 
the mistakes and successes of others in actually executed work, 
and avail himself of their experience by applying it with intelli¬ 
gence to his own problems and requirements. 

GOTHIC LETTERING. 

Gothic lettering is extremely difficult, and has little practical 
use for the architectural designer or draftsman. It is often 
appropriate, but it is quite possible to get along without employing 
this form at all. However, in case he should require a letter of 
this style, it would be better to refer him to some book where he 
may study its characteristics more particularly, remembering it 
is just as important he should know something of the history. 


ARCHITECTUKAL LETTERING 


45 


uses and materials from which this letter has been taken, as in 
any instance of the use of the Roman form. Indeed, it might be 



Fig. 35. Italian Black Letters, after Bergomensis. 


said, it is even more important, as the Gothic letter is more unL 
versally misunderstood and misapplied than the simpler Roman 
letter. 






Fig. 36. English Gothic Text. 
























AECIIITECTUEAL LETTEEIKG 


47 


The alphabet of German black letters shown in Fig. 35 is 
taken from a very beautiful example of Gothic black letter devised 
by Jacopus Phillipus Foresti (Bergomensis) and used by him in 
the title page of ^‘De Claris Mulieribus/’ etc., published in Fer¬ 
rara in 1497. Although Italian, this letter is as German in 
character as any of the examples from the pen of Albrecht Diirer. 
A German black letter redrawn from a brass is shown in Fig. 33, 
while an English form of Gothic letter is shown in Fig. 36. 

In Fig. 34 is another example of a black-letter alphabet. 
The entire effect of a black-letter page depends upon the literal 
Interpretation of the title ^Tlack letter.’’ That is, the space 
of white between and among the letters should be overbalanced 
by the amount of black used in defining the letter form itself. 

Inasmuch as this letter is likely to be used but little by 
architectural draftsmen, and as it is a much more difficult form 
to compose than even the Roman type, it seems better to refer 
the student to some treatise where its characteristics are taken 
up more thoroughly and pt greater length. 

Any draftsman having occasion to use lettering to any extent 
should have some fairly elaborate textbook always at hand for 
reference, and it is belie ed that ^‘Letters and Lettciing,” a larger 
treatise published by the Bates and Guild Company of Boston, 
from which several of the illustrations reproduced in this pam¬ 
phlet hsve been borrowed, contains more material in an easily 
available form than any other textbook on the subject. 


.1 , . f 





vV 




r 




J 


f 


< , ' 





7 





\ 


, ♦, 


* 


fV 





^ *• 

i •_ ' 









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INDEX 


Part I —Architectural Drawing; Part II —Architectural Lettering 


Approximations. 

Arches. 

Architect’s scale. 

Architectural design, preliminary studies in., 

Architectural inscription lettering. 

Axes, importance of in architectural drawing 

Black-letter alphabet. 

Brush, handling. 

Brushes and paper. 

Building a house, various stages in. 

full-size details. 

letting the contract. 

representation of materials. 

sketches. 

tracing and blue-printing. 

working drawings.. • 

Buildings for offices. 

Character of line. 

Classic Roman letters. 

Colonial house. 

attic and roof plan. 

basement plan. 

china closet... 

conditions. 

elevations. 

fireplace details. 

first-floor plan. 

framing plans. 

front-elevation details. 

front and side elevations. 

kitchen. 

main cornice and dormer. 

pantry.. 

plans. 

plumbing. 

porch and front entrance. 

second-floor plan. 

sketches. 

staircase. 

uniform titles for drawings. 


Part 

Page 

..I, 

45 

..I, 

44 

..I, 

5 

..I, 

37 

..II, 

27 

...I, 

11 

..II, 

44 

...I, 

26 

...I, 

34 

...I, 

55 

...I, 

57 

...I, 

59 

...I, 

58 

...I, 

55 

...I, 

59 

...I, 

56 

...I, 

60 

...I, 

7 

..II, 

29 


61 

...I, 

71 


66 


87 


61 


62 


97 


66 


77 


75 


71 


87 


87 


87 


62 


00 


95 


68 


61 


97 


95 











































INDEX 


II 

j 

Part Page 

Coliyiiial house 

useful memoranda.I, 62 

window frames.I, 89 

Colors—primary, secondary, and complementary.I, 35 

Combination of color.I, 34 

Complementary colors.I, 35 

Composition. I, 47 

of letters.II, 19 

Criticism.I, 50 

Datum lines.I, 43 

Definitions.I, 10 

Design, practical problems in.I, 47 

Design of dwelling.I, 51 

Different planes, distinction between. I, 32 

Drawing boards.I, 2 

Dwelling, design of.I, 51 

bathroom.I, 54 

butler’s pantry.I, 53 

cellar.I, 54 

closets.I, 54 

dining room. I, 53 

hallway..:.I, 51 

kitchen.I, 53 

lavatory.'.I, 54 

living rooms.I, 52 

■ number of rooms.I, 51 

proportion of stair riser to tread.I, 52 

refrigerator.I, 53 

sitting room.I, 52 

stairways.I, 52 

storeroom.I, 54 

Ecole des Beaux Arts.I, 38 

Elevation measurements.I, 44 

Elevations, definition of.I, 11 

Erasers.I, l 

Exhibition drawings. I, 40 

German black letters. II, 43 

Gothic lettering.II, 44 

Graded tints.I, 30 

Hand level.I, 43 

Handling the brush.I, 26 

Inaccessible portions.I, 45 

Inking the drawing.I, 24 

Inscription lettering.II, 27 

Instruments.I, 1 

Italian black letters.II, 45 

Italian Renaissance lettering.II, 37 

Italic letter.II, 15 

















































INDEX 


Laying washes. 

Letter forms. 

Limiting lines ... 

Line, character of. 

Line drawing. 

Lines, limiting. 

Manipulation. 

Materials. 

for sketching.... . . 

for wash-drawings. 

Measured work. 

Measuring tapes. 

Minuscule letters. 

Modeling an architectural drawing 

Oblique projections. 

Office lettering. 

Ornament. 

Paper. 

Pencils. 

Plan, definition of. 

Practical problems in design. 

Preparing the tint. 

Primary colors. 

Projections. 

oblique. 

Putting ideas on paper. 

Raised lettering. 

Renaissance letters. 

Rendering, materials for. 

Rendering elevations. 

Rendering sections and plans. 

Rendering in wash. 

Rubbings. 

Scale. 

Scales. 

Secondary colors. 

Section, definition of.... • 

Set of instruments. 

Shade lining. 

Shadows at 45 degrees. 

Skeleton letter. 

Sketching. 

materials for. 

Small letters. 

Spacing. 

Stretching paper. 

Subjects to sketch. 

T-squares. 


Part 

III 

Page 

..I, 

26 

..TI, 

4 

..I, 

15 

,..I, 

7 

,..I, 

7 

...I, 

15 

...I, 

34 

...I, 

1 

...I, 

41 

...I, 

3 

...I, 

43 

...I, 

43 

..II, 

26 

...I, 

18 

...I, 

16 

. .11, 

2 

...I, 

50 

...I, 

3 

...I, 

1 

...I, 

10 

...I, 

47 

...I, 

25 

...I, 

35 

...I, 

45 

...I, 

16 

...I, 

37 


42 

..II, 

6 


23 


29 

...I, 

30 

...I, 

23 


45 


48 


4 


35 


10 


2 


8 


18 


10 


40 


41 


26 


25 


24 


42 


3 


















































IV 


INDEX 


Part Page 

Tinted papers.I, 3 

Tracing cloth.I, 4 

Tracing paper.I, 4 

use of.I, 38 

Triangles.I, 3 

Tube and pan colors.I, 32 

Values.I, 19 

Wash-drawings, materials for.I, 3 

Washes, laying.^.I, 26 

Water color hints for draftsmen. I, 32 

Water color rendering.I, 36 

Water color sketching.I, 37 


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